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MEMOIR 


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JAMP:S    ALLt:N    IIARDIE, 


3  wsp^e  c  l0r-  %^  IK  val; 


UNITKl)   STATI-:S  ARMY 


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^PRINTED  FOR  PRIVATE  CI RCV I.ATIOX. 


lu^lAiiavjtciu: 


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»•     > 
•     *    •    •  .    ' 


ROBERT  ERNEST  COWAN 


H=6/         D 


DEDICATION. 

a       To  the  chiklreu  of  him  whose  merits  and  services  are 
t 

■  herein  briefly  commemorated,  this  little  volume   is   afiec- 
=   tionately  inscribed  by  his  and  their  friend, 

The  Author. 
=       Washington,  D.  C, 
5  January, 'J.  an. 

9 


27v'2S4 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  subject  of  this  raemoii'  belongs  to  that  class  of 
men  whose  spheres  of  action  have  been  sufficiently  lai'ge 
and  conspicuous  to  make  the  narration  of  their  lives  and 
characters  both  interesting  and  useful  to  those  who  have 
known  and  observed  them  in  life,  however  little  they  may 
have  engaged  the  attention  of  the  world  at  large.  The 
most  cursory  perusal  of  the  following  pages  will  show  that 
the  life  they  attempt  in  some  measure  to  portray  was  one 
of  activity,  and  public  in  its  character  and  usefulness.  A 
more  attentive  reading  will  show  that  it  was  also  the  life 
of  a  sincere,  devoted,  and  unselfish  man,  true  to  his  God, 
his  country,  and  his  race.  The  narrative  of  such  a  life, 
however  briefly  and  imperfectly  told,  cannot  do  harm  and 
is  certain  to  do  good. 

Those  who  scan  these  pages  with  unwonted  care  will  be 
more  apt  to  notice  what  is  absent  from  them  than  what  they 
contain.  To  such  is  due  the  explanation  that  the  work  was 
undertaken,  as  a  token  of  gratitude  and  affection,  without 
time  to  collect  more  ample  material,  or  ability  to  adorn 
it  with  literary  graces. 

The  tone  of  this  little  volume  is  eulogistic,  but  that 
scarcely  requires  explanation.  The  tale  of  a  life  open  and 
full  of  integrity,  Avhen  written  by  a  friendly  hand  for  the 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

perusal  of  friendly  eyes,  is  not  to  be  broken  by  adverse  re- 
flections, or  suggestions  of  possible  flaws  iu  eitber  ebaracter 
or  attainments.  Such  critical  methods  belone:  to  the  hiaher 
plane  of  history. 


Adjutant  General's  Office, 

Washington,  January  8,  1877. 

Military  History  of  James  A.  Hardie,  of  the  United 
States  Ariuy,  as  shown  by  the  files  of  this  office. 

Was  a  cadet  at  the  United  States  Military  Academy, 
from  September  1,  1839,  to  July  1,  184.'),  when  he  was 
graduated  and  promoted  in  the  Army  to  Brevet  Second 
Lieutenant,  First  Artillery,  July  1,  184o. 

His  subsequent  commissions  and  appointments  were  as 
follows  : 

Second  Lieutenant,  Third  Artillery 28  May,  1846. 

First  Lieutenant,  Third  Artillery 3  March,  1847. 

Captain,  Third  Artill<?ry -5  October,  1857. 

Transferred  to  Fifth  Artillery 15  May,  1861. 

Major  and  Assistant  Adjutant  General 19  February,  1863. 

Colonel  and  Inspector  General 24  March,  1864. 

Major,  First  N.  Y.  Vol's 1  August,  1846,  to  October  26,  1848. 

Lt.  Col.,  and  Adfl'l  A.  D.  C.  --28  Sept.,  1861,  to  24  March,  1864. 
Brig.  Gen'l  of  Volunteers 29  Nov.,  1862,  to  22  Jan.,  1863. 

He  was  brevetted  Brigadier  General,  United  States  Army, 
March  3, 1865,  for  diligent  and  faithful  services,  and  Major 
General,  United  States  Army,  March  18,  1865,  for  faithful, 
m3ritorious  and  distinguished  services  in  the  Inspector 
General's  Department. 

Service. — He  joined  his  regiment  September  30,  1843, 
and  served  therewith  in  garrison  at  Hancock  Barracks, 
Houltou,  Maine,  to  August  23,  1844;  on  detached  service 
at  United  States  Militarv  Academv,  as  Assistant  Professor 


V 1 1  r  INTRODUCTIOX. 

of  Geography,  History,  aud  Ethics,  to  August  15,  1846  ;  iu 
tlie  war  with  Mexico  as  INIajor  First  New  York  Volunteers, 
at  San  Francisco,  California,  to  October  26,  1848;  on  de- 
tached service  in  garrison  at  San  Francisco,  California,  to 
March  30,  1849  ;  Pii  route  to  join  his  regiment  and  on  leave 
of  absence  to  November  8, 1849  ;  with  regiment  iu  garrison 
at  Fort  Trumbull,  Connecticut,  to  Juue,  1850  ;  at  Jefferson 
Barracks,  Missouri,  to  October,  1851 ;  as  adjutant  of  the 
regiment  at  Fort  Adams,  Rhode  Island,  to  December  7, 
1853 ;  on  detached  service  as  aide-de-camp  to  Brevet  Brig- 
adier General  Wool,  Headquarters  D>ipartinent  of  the 
East,  Baltimore,  Maryland,  to  January,  1854,  aud  Head- 
quarters Department  of  the  Pacific  to  May  o,  1855;  with 
regiment  at  Benicia  Barracks,  California,  as  adjutant,  to 
April,  1858  ;  at  San  Bernardino,  California,  to  Juue  7, 
1858;  on  frontier  duty  iu  the  Spokan  expedition,  to  Oc- 
tober, 1858,  being  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Four  Lakes, 
Washington  Territory,  September  1,  1858,  and  in  the  com- 
bat of  Spokan  Plains,  September  5,  1858  ;  at  Forts  Van- 
couver and  Cascades,  Washington  Territory,  aud  Fort 
Point,  California,  to  July,  1861  ;  as  aide-de-cam[)  to  Gen- 
eral McCU'lhin,  from  September  ;>,  1861,  to  ]\Iarch  10, 
1862;  as  acting  assistant  adjutant  general  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  during  the  Virginia  Peninsular  campaign,  to 
August,  18(>2  ;  in  the  Maryland  campaign,  September  to 
November,  1862;  aud  in  the  Rappahannock  campaign, 
December,  1862,  to  January,  1863,  being  on  the  staff  of 
Major  General  Buruside,  in  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg, 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

December  13,  18(32;  as  judge  advocate  geueral  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  January  29,  to  March  20,  1863  ; 
on  special  duty  in  the  War  Department  to  August  2, 1866  ; 
and  in  charge  of  the  Inspector  General's  Office,  at  Wash- 
ington, March  24,  18G4,  to  November  1,  1865  ;  as  member 
of  Board  of  Inspection  of  arms  and  munitions  in  the 
arsenals  and  forts  of  the  United  States,  August  2,  1866,  to 
August  15, 1867  ;  Inspector  General  at  Headquarters  of  the 
Army  to  June  16, 1868  ;  President  of  the  Board  of  Claims 
to  May  17,  1869  ;  Inspector  General  of  the  Military  Divi- 
sion of  the  Missouri  to  October  14,  1872  ;  also  member  of 
Commission  to  act  on  claims  of  the  State  of  Kansas  for 
moneys  expended  in  raising  and  equipping  troops  to  aid  in 
suppressing  the  rebellion  ;  on  inspection  duty  under  the 
orders  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  General  of  the  Army 
to  May  29,  1876 ;  assistant  in  the  Inspector  General's 
Office,  at  Headquarters  of  the  Army,  to  date  of  death,  De- 
cember 14,  1876. 

Thomas  M.  Vincent, 
Assistant  Adjutant  General. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Chapter  I. 

Eurlj-  Years 1 

Chapter  II. 
Cadet  Life  at  West  Point 7 

Chapter  III. 
California  Service  daring  Mexican  War 11 

Chapter  IV. 

Garrison  Life  after  the  War 18 

Chapter  V. 
Expedition  against  Spokan  Indians 28 

Chapter  VI. 
Service  with  Army  of  the  Potomac 29 

Chapter  VII. 

Service  in  the  War  Department 37 

Chapter  VIII. 
Service  in  Inspector  General's  Department 4o 

Chapter  IX. 
Death  and  Funeral  Ceremonies 51 

Chapter  X. 
Personal  Traits  and  Characteristics ^ 57 


JAMES  ALLEX  HARDll! 


CHAPTER  I. 


]•:  A  R  L  Y      YEARS. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir  was  born  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  May  5,  182o,  and  was  the  eldest  of  eight  chiklren,  of 
whom  four  survive.  His  father,  Allen  W.  Hardie,  was  a 
real  estate  broker  at  New  York  and  Albany,  and  a  man  of 
wealth,  intelligence  and  culture.  His  mother,  Caroline  Cox  ^ 
belonged  to  a  respectable  family  of  Quaker  descent,  and 
possessed  those  domestic  virtues  that  so  generally  charac- 
terize the  members  of  that  denomination.  The  boy  was 
named  James  after  his  father's  uncle,  James  Hardie,  a  pro- 
fessor in  Columbia  College,  New  York,  and  writer  of  some 
repute  upon  classical  and  historical  subjects,  and  Allen  after 
his  own  father.  The  Hardie  family  was  of  Scotch  extra- 
tion,  as  tjie  name  itself  indicates,  but  had  bean  long  settled 
in  America,  and  James  had  both  opportunity  and  occasion, 
in  his  still  youthful  days,  to  refer  to  the  services  rendered 
in  two  wars  with  England  by  his  ancestry. 

The  family  residence  was  at  Montrose,  on  the  Hudson, 
and  the  earliest  years  of  James  were  surrounded  by  those 
advantages  that  wealth,  taste,  and  judgment  afford   to  the 


2  JAMES    ALLEX    HARDIE. 

growiflg  mind,  but  us  he  was  by  iiatuie  intellectual  and 
studious,  he  needed  not  to  be  driven,  but  only  uuided.  He 
neglected  the  usual  amusements  and  occupations  of  boys 
for  his  books,  and  like  many  another  precocious  scholar, 
received  both  scolding  and  warning  from  his  anxious  mother 
because  of  his  morbid  propensity  to  study. 

At  the  age  of  four  years,  James  was  able  to  read,  and 
when  eight  years  old,  was  placed  in  charge  of  a  tutor,  a 
talented  and  pious  young  man,  studying  for  the  ministry. 
The  relations  between  the  two  were  so  affectionate  as  well 
as  advantageous  to  the  pupil,  that  when  the  tutor  went  to 
Pittsburgh  to  fill  an  instructor's  place  in  the  Western  Col- 
legiate Institute  under  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lacoy,  it  was  arranged 
that  young  Hardie  should  accompany  him,  and  remain  in 
his  immediate  charge  in  addition  to  being  regularly  entered 
as  a  pupil  of  the  institute.  James  was  then  just  past  ten, 
and  the  letter  is  still  preserved  in  which  he  (Lsjribes  to  his 
father,  in  a  handwriting  like  copper-plate,  and  with  a 
gravity  and  perfection  of  style  far  beyond  his  years,  his 
journc^y  from  New  York  to  Pittsburgh,  his  impre.ssions  of 
Philadelphia  and  its  fine  buildings  and  water-works,  and 
the  situation,  surroundings,  ami  interior  an-angemcnts  of 
the  Western  Collegiate  Institute.  The  letter  shows  that 
thus  early  he  was  keenly  observant  of  everything  in  the 
way  of  beautiful  or  striking  scenery,  a  taste  that  abided 
with  him  through  life,  and  gave  him  many  a  pleasure  that 
others  less  favored  with  a  love  of  nature  could  not  share. 

Before  the  journey  of  young  flardie  to  what  had  hardly 


.lAMKS    ALLIEN     flARDIE.  .1 

ceased  to  ba  the  "  Far  West,"  his  father's  fortunes  had  im- 
dergoue  a  calamitous  chauge,  and  it  was  only  by  measures 
of  a  most  resolute  aud  self-sacrificing  character  that  the 
parent  was  enabled  to  preserve  to  the  child,  whose  high 
talents  and  impulses  be  fully  discerned,  some  part  of  those 
advantages  of  education  and  training  that  in  his  yet  pros- 
perous days  he  had  resolved  upon.  Happily  for  both,  the 
boy  understood  and  reciprocated  his  father's  etfbrts  for  his 
well  being,  and  he  earnestly  strove  to  be  all  and  to  do  all 
that  the  most  anxious  or  exacting  of  parents  could  wish. 
His  father's  self  denying  spirit  he  met  half-way.  His  long- 
ings for  a  parental  visit  at  examination  time,  and  for  a  visit 
home  himself  during  the  "short  vacation,"  he  could  not, 
indeed,  suppress  in  his  letters,  but  he  accompanied  them 
with  expressions  of  cheerful  resignation  at  foregoing  them, 
that  took  away  the  sting  of  his  disappointment. 

In  a  letter  dated  December  19,  1833,  he  tells  his  father 
of  the  approaching  public  examination  at  the  institute,  and 
expresses  the  hope  that  he  may  not  "  disgrace  "  himself  in 
it.  His  next  letter  is  to  his  mother,  and  in  a  hand  even 
more  regular  and  beautiful  than  before.  After  a  dutiful 
and  affectionate  opening,  he  describes  to  her  the  public 
examination  just  held  before  "a  committee  composed  of 
some  of  the  eminent  gentlemen  of  the  city  and  neighbor- 
hood," and  explains  that  he,  a  boy  under  eleven,  had  uo 
chance  to  win  either  of  the  two  handsome  medals  offered 
as  premiums  for  excellence  in  composition  and  elocution, 
because  among  the  contestants  were  "  young  ladies,  eighteen 


4  .lAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

or  nineteen  years  old,  who  were  second  to  uoue  in  the  United 
States."  His  own  part  in  the  examination,  he  thns  de- 
scribes : 

"  The  examination  lasted  for  three  days,  and  I  never  had  such 
a  drilling  before.  My  class  in  Latin  excited  groat  admiration. 
I  was  examined  in  the  greater  part  of  Asia,  in  the  history  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  in  English  and  Latin  grammar,  in  C»sar  and 
in  arithmetic,  and  I  spoke  Napoleon's  Farewell  to  France." 

His  expectations  of  future  study,  and  his  estimate  of  the 
uses  and  pleasures  of  learning,  he  thus  unfolds  : 

"  I  expect  to  commence  algebra  and  rhetoric  next  term,  and 
Mr.  K.  thinks  I  shall  soon  be  ready  for  Greek.     *     *     *     Tell 

cousin  T to  gain  learning  as  fast  as  he  can,  ml   that,  should 

he  even  be  confined  to  a  limited  sphere  in  society,  he  will  yet  pos- 
se.ss  a  pearl  whose  intrinsic  value,  the  longer  he  lives,  he  will  the 
more  truly  appreciate,  and  from  which  he  will  derive  a  pleasure 
that  nothing  but  the  blessing  of  religious  fre'.ing  can  equal." 

The  letters  of  young  Hardic's  kind  friend  and  tutor  to 
his  pupil's  father  are  full  of  praise  and  promise,  and  the 
only  unfjivorable  report  that  he  makes  of  him  is  that  he 
has  an  "extremely  quick  temper,"  threatening  future 
trouble  if  not  subdued  in  youth.  That  it  had  existed,  and 
had  been  subdued,  those  intimate  with  him  in  after  life  had 
good  reason  to  believe,  for  extreme  sensitiveness  on  the  one 
hand  and  great  patience  on  the  other  were  always  marked 
traits  in  his  character. 

James'  stay  at  the  Pittsburgh  College  was  terminated 
prematurely  by  the  resolution  of  his  tutor,  reluctantly 
taken,  to  give  up  teaching  and  devote  himself  wholly  to 
theological  study  under  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  at  Kenyon  Col- 


JAME8    ALLEN    HARDIE.  5 

lege.  James  was  too  yoiiug  to  enter  that  iii.stitution,  aud 
as  he  had  reached  an  age  when  he  needed  more  than  ever 
that  bracing  influence  of  school-fellowship  with  other  boys 
that  the  most  devoted  private  teaching  cannot  supply,  there 
was  nothing  to  do  but  for  teacher  and  pupil  to  part.  The 
former  was  sad  enough  over  the  necessity,  for  he  had  long 
entertained  the  thought  of  training  the  youth  up,  under 
his  own  supervision,  for  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  to  which  they  both  belonged,  aud  he  comforted 
his  young  charge  and  himself  by  hopes  of  their  coming 
together  again  in  a  few  years,  and  carrying  out  that  pro- 
ject to  the  end. 

The  boy  was  brought  back  to  New  York,  aud  eventually 
entered  the  Poughkeepsie  Collegiate  School,  a  noted  estab- 
lishment of  that  day,  of  which  Dr.  Bartlett,  a  highly  es- 
teemed instructor  and  scholar,  was  principal.  While  here, 
he  conceived  the  idea  of  getting  an  appointment  to  the 
Military  Academy  as  a  means  of  continuing  and  advancing 
his  studies,  his  desire  for  learning  increasing  with  acquisi- 
tion and  the  lessening  of  his  opportunities  for  gratifying  it. 
He  addressed  himself  to  the  Representatives  in  Congress 
from  the  Hudson  river  districts,  and  the  tone  and  style  of 
his  letters  awakened  in  them  an  extraordinary  interest  aud 
disposition  to  serve  him,  so  that  from  the  first  their  answers 
were  highly  encouraging  and  satisfactory.  His  youthful- 
ness  was  against  him,  he  being  considerably  less  than  fifteen 
years  old  when  he  began  his  efforts,  but  this  objection  dis- 
appeared as  time  went  on,  and  at  last,  in  September,  1839, 


6  .TAMER  ALLEN    HARDIE 

at  the  age  of  sixteen  years  and  three  months,  he  entered  '• 
the  Academy.  His  father,  besides  being  widely  known  and 
highly  respected,had  both  a  personal  and  political  friendship 
with  the  then  President,  Van  Buren,  by  whose  order  the  ap- 
pointment was  issued.  James  himself  had  placed  on  file  in 
the  War  Department  a  formal  application  for  the  place,  and 
he  thus  stated  the  considerations  by  which  he  hoped  to 
move  "  His  Excellency,"  as  he  styled  him,  the  Secretary  of 
War  : 

"  I  may  have  some  little  claim  to  noti?e,  as  my  great-grand- 
father, Bogardus,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Eevolutionary  war,  and  my 
grandfather  and  uncle  were  in  the  service  of  the  United  States 
during  the  late  war,  and  our  family  always  have  and  do  now 
maintain  strict  administration  principle?.'' 

What  the  youthful  conception  of  "  strict  administration 
principles"  was  there  are  no  means  now  of  ascertaining, 
but  as  he  speaks  of  them  with  pride  as  the  principles  of 
"  our  family,"  and  the  love  of  truth  and  honor  that  at- 
tended him  through  life  was  already  a  marked  feature  of 
his  character,  it  is  certain  that  he  took  them  to  be  the  only 
principles  suitable  for  the  miruitenance  of  right-minded 
men. 


CHAPTER  II. 


CADET    LIFE    AT    WEST    POINT. 

As  already  mentioiu-d,  James  eutered  the  Military 
Academy,  September  1,  1839,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years 
aud  three  months.  Among  those  who  entered  the  same 
class  with  hiin  and  became  distinguished  in  after  life  were 
Generals  Grant,  Franklin,  Augur,  and  Steele  of  the  Union 
side,  and  General  Gardner,  Confederate  commander  of 
Port  Hudson,  daring  the  late  civil  war.  The  Union  Gen- 
erals, William  T.  Sherman,  George  H.  Thomas,  John  F. 
Reynolds,  Nathaniel  Lyon,  William  S.  Rosecrans,  Horatio 
G.  Wright,  Don  Carlos  Buell,  John  Pope  and  John  New- 
ton, and  the  Confederate  Generals  Ewell,  Lougstreet,  Van 
Dorn  and  Lovell  were  already  cadets  when  he  eutered,  aud 
duriug  his  term  as  cadet,  the  Union  Generals  McClellan, 
Hancock,  "  Baldy  "  Smith,  Fitz  John  Porter,  Reno,  Stone- 
man,  Sturgis,  and  Charles  P.  Stone,  and  the  Confederate 
Generals  "Stonewall"  Jackson,  A.  P.  Hill,  Kirby  Smith, 
Barnard'E.  Bee  and  George  E.  Pickett  entered  the  classes 
below  him.  One  of  his  class-mates  was  the  well-known 
Father  Deshon,  of  the  Redemptorist  and  Paulist  societies 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  Colonel  Garesche, 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Stone's  river  while  serving  on  the 
staff  of  General  Rosecrans,  and  a  Catholic  of  extreme 
piety,  was  in  one  of  the  classes  above  him.     Colonel  Dela- 


8  .TA>[ES    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

field,  a  promiueut  officer  of  the  eugiueei-  corps,  wa-  the 
Superintendent  of  the  Academy,  and  Lieutenants  Joseph 
Hooker  ami  Irvin  McDowell,  both  major-generals  in  the 
array  now,  filled  the  office  of  adjutant  during  the  four  years 
of  young  Hardie's  cadet  life. 

At  the  first  examination,  nine  months  after  his  admission. 
Cadet  Hardie  was  one  of  the  envied  five  "  star "  cadets 
whose  names  were  published  in  the  Army  Register  in 
recognition  of  their  merit  as  students,  his  rank  being 
two  in  French,  and  ten  in  mathematics,  out  of  a  class  of 
sixty  members.  The  next  year  he  stood  three  in  French, 
five  in  drawing,  eleven  in  mathematics,  and  thirteen  in 
ethics,  in  a  class  of  fifty-three.  The  third  year  he  stood 
two  in  drawing,  nine  in  chemistry,  and  thirteen  in  natural 
philosophy,  in  a  class  of  forty-one.  The  fourth  year  he 
stood  seven  in  ethics,  eight  in  mineralogy  and  geology, 
eleven  in  artillery,  and  twelve  in  infantry  tactics,  and  thir- 
teen in  military  and  civil  engineering ;  and  was  graduated 
as  eleventh  among  the  thirty-nine  who  remained  of  the 
sixty  that  originally  composed  the  class.  His  standing  in 
discipline,  which  concerned  chiefly  his  military  bearing  and 
conduct,  was  an  average  ninety-eight  out  of  an  average 
membership  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-three.  His  whole 
number  of  conduct  marks  in  the  four  years  was  three  hun- 
dred and  ninety-five,  while  it  would  have  taken  eight  luin- 
dred,  or  one  hundred  in  any  half  year,  to  have  found  iiitn 
deficient.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  in  this  connection,  that 
Don  Carlos  Buell,  known  before  and  during  the  late  war 


JAMES   ALLEN    HAKDIE.  9 

as  the  strictest  discipliuarian  in  the  army,  stood  iu  one  year 
at  the  foot  of  the  conduct  roll  of  two  hundred  and  nineteen 
cadets  ;  such  is  the  seeming  inconsistency  of  human  char- 
acter. 

At  the  time  of  Cadet  Hardie's  entry  at  West  Point,  the 
custom  of  "  hazing  the  plebs  "  was  in  full  vigor,  and  it  was 
his  lot  to  be  subjected  to  it  in  pretty  ample  measure,  but 
he  boreit'good-naturedly,  and  many  years  afterwards,  when 
past  middle  life,  and  stern  measures  were  in  vogue  for  its 
suppression,  he  spoke  of  the  practice  as  one  that  did  not 
call  for  the  official  pother  made  about  it,  and  which  was 
not  without  its  useful  influences  upon  those  subjected  to  it ; 
while,  as  to  the  occasional  cruel  and  excessive  instances  of 
it  that  were  made  the  grounds  of  official  notice  and  inter- 
ference, they  could  and  would  be  most  effectually  checked 
by  the  generosity  and  sense  of  honor  of  the  cadets  them- 
selves. 

Of  Cadet  Hardie's  life  at  West  Point,  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  remark  that  he  was  the  same  quiet,  diligent,  and 
studious  youth  that  he  had  ever  been,  popular  with  his  in- 
structors, but  sufficiently  boyish  and  companionable  to  be 
esteemed  by  his  fellow  cadets.  The  examination  of  his 
class  for  graduation,  in  1843,  was  conducted  before  a  visit- 
ing: committee  of  which  General  Winfield  Scott  was  the 
chairman,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  in  a  presence  re- 
garded by  them  as  so  august  and  critical,  each  unfledged 
military  hero  was  on  his  mettle,  and  anxious  as  to  the  re- 
sult. 
4 


10  JAMES   ALLEN   HARDIE. 

Shortly  after  his  graduation,  Cadet  Hardie,  in  accordance 
with  the  recommendation  of  the  examining  board  and  his 
own  desire,  was  assigned  to  the  artillery  arm  of  the  service 
and  attached  as  a  brevet  or  supernumerary  second  lieuten- 
ant to  the  first  regiment  of  artillery,  with  station  at  Han- 
cock Barracks,  Maine.  After  a  year's  service  to  teach  him 
the  duties  of  an  officer  in  garrison,  he  was  ordered  back  to 
West  Point  as  assistant  professor  in  the  department  of 
geography,  history,  and  ethics,  all  of  them  subjects  in 
which  his  heart  was  enlisted.  He  was  then  but  a  little 
over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  but,  apart  from  his  profi- 
ciency, had  enough  of  the  gravity  of  manner  that  devotion 
to  learning  always  gives,  to  be  a  successful  teacher  of  the 
youths  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  that  formed  his  classes. 


CHAPTER  III. 


CALIFORNIA   SERVICE    DURING   MEXICAN    WAR. 

In  1846,  the  administration  of  President  Polk,  under 
the  aggressive  influence  of  Governor  Marcy,  of  New  York, 
then  Secretary  of  War,  formed  the  design  of  raising  a  vol- 
unteer regiment  of  young  and  picked  men,  and  sending 
them  to  California,  to  be  employed  as  long  as  need  be  for 
military  purposes,  and  then  disbanded  and  left  in  Califor- 
nia as  a  nucleus  of  defense  and  extension  for  the  weak  and 
scattered  American  settlements  in  that  then  Mexican  prov- 
ince. The  raising  and  command  of  the  regiment  was  en- 
trusted to  Jonathan  D.  Stevenson,  a  friend  of  Secretary 
Marcy's,  and  in  looking  about  for  military  talent  to  asso- 
ciate with  him  in  the  command,  his  choice  fell  upon  Lieu- 
tenant Hardie  for  the  post  of  major.  The  latter  accepted 
the  appointment,  and  Colonel  Stevenson  thereupon  pro- 
cured from  the  Secretary  of  War  an  order  relieving  him 
from  duty  at  the  Military  Academy  and  granting  him  leave 
of  absence  for  two  yeai's  with  permission  to  go  abroad. 
Thus  he  found  himself  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  engaged 
in  an  important  enterprise,  and  upon  the  threshold  of  re- 
sponsibilities from  which  he  would,  with  his  sensitive  and 
self-distrusting  nature,  have  shrunk,  could  he  have  foreseen 
them. 


12  JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

The  regiment  sailed  from  New  York  for  California,  by 
way  of  Cape  Horn,  in  the  month  of  September,  1846,  four 
months  after  the  existence  of  war  between  the  United  States 
and  Mexico  had  been  recognized  by  Congress.  Three 
merchants  ships  were  chartered  by  the  Government  to  con- 
vey the  regiment  and  on  one  of  these,  the  "  Loo  Choo," 
were  embarked  three  and  a  half  companies,  and  the  vessel, 
with  the  detachment,  was  placed  under  command  of  Major 
Hardie,  who  was  furnished  with  the  following  letter  from 
the  Department  of  State,  signed  by  the  gentleman  who 
subsequently  became  noted  as  the  negotiator  of  the  treaty 
of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo : 

"  To  the  Diplomatic  and  Consular  Agents  of  the  United  States  of 

America. 

"  Devartment  of  State, 

"  Washington,  September  14,  1846. 
"  The  American  ship  '  Loo  Choo,'  having  on  board  troops  of 
the  United  States  commanded  by  Major  James  A.  Hardie,  (under 
whose  orders  likewise  the  master  and  crew  are  placed,)  is  one  of 
three. transport  ships  of  the  United  States  that  are  to  sail  imme- 
diately from  New  York  for  the  northwest  coast  of  America,  in 
company  with  the  United  States  sloop-of-war  '  Preble.' 

"  These  vessels  will,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  become  separated  in 
the  course  of  the  voyage,  and  find  themselves  under  the  necessity 
of  seeking,  singly,  the  hospitality  of  ports  of  friendly  nations,  in 
quest  of  what  they  may  need.  I  have  accordingly  to  request 
that,  should  this  happen  in  the  country  where  you  are  accredited, 
every  proper  step  will  be  taken  by  you  to  obtain  for  them,  with 
the  least  possible  delay,  all  the  facilities  and  friendly  accommoda- 
tions to  which  their  actual  character  as  national  vessel  entitles 
them  under  the  established  usages  of  comity  among  nations. 

"  N.  P.  Trist, 
"  Acting  Secretary  of  State." 


JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE.  13 

The  "  Loo  Choo  "  reached  San  Francisco  after  a  stormy 
voyage  of  six  months,  enlivened  by  a  brief  stay  at  Rio  Ja- 
neiro, where  Major  Hardie  and  his  officers  were  magnifi- 
cently entertained  by  the  young  Emperor,  now  the  famous 
Dom  Pedro  II.  The  other  two  vessels  also  got  in  safely 
with  their  detachments.  A  company  of  the  Third  Artil- 
lery, Major  Hardie's  own  regiment,  having  William  T. 
Sherman  as  junior  First  Lieutenant,  had  already  reached 
there  from  New  York.  jNIajor  Hardie  and  his  detachment 
took  post  at  San  Francisco,  and  he  came  into  command 
and  charge  of  both  military  and  civil  affairs  in  that  part 
of  Upper  California ;  Colonel  Mason,  who  succeeded  Colonel 
Kearney  as  military  commander  and  governor  of  the  whole 
district,  fixing  his  headquarters  at  Monterey,  with  Lieutenant 
Sherman  for  his  Chief  of  Staff.  The  position  of  Major 
Hardie  was  both  arduous  and  delicate,  having  to  deal  with 
turbulent  volunteers,  anxious  for  the  field  and  impatient  at 
the  restraints  of  garrison  life,  with  discontented  and  sullen 
natives,  and  adventurers  of  all  sorts  from  the  United  States, 
between  whom  and  the  soldiers  the  natives  found  occasion 
enough  to  call  upon  the  commandant  for  redress  and  pro- 
tection. *  Fears  of  a  native  rising  against  the  American 
occupation  were  constant  and  well-founded,  and  served  to 
keep  the  commanding  officers  in  a  constant  state  of  watch- 
fulness and  anxiety,  both  with  regard  to  the  inhabitants, 
that  they  might  not  take  the  troops  by  surprise,  and  the 
troops,  that  they  might  always  be  ready  to  march  or  fight, 
as  circumstances  might  demand.     In  Mexico,  too,  actual 


14  JAMES  ALLEN  HARBIE. 

aud  glorious  war  was  in  progress,  in  which  tlie  army  was 
gaiuiiig  hxurels,  and  possibly  rewards,  that  those  iu  Cali- 
fornia might  envy,  but  saw  no  prospect  of  sharing.  It 
was  under  such  iutiuences  that  Major  Hardie,  after  two 
months  of  trial  in  the  command  at  San  Francisco,  asked 
to  be  relieved  from  his  volunteer  rank  and  command,  and 
ordered  upon  his  commission  of  Second  Lieutenant  of 
Artillery,  to  join  his  regiment  iu  Mexico.  Towards  this 
request  Colonel  Mason,  a  strict  and  even  harsh  disciplina- 
rian of  the  "  old  school,"  as  the  phrase  was  known  in  those 
days,  took  the  unusual  course  of  replying  under  his  own 
hand,  and  in  kindly  terms,  assuring  him  that  his  unenvi- 
able and  perplexing  situation  was  thoroughly  recognized  ; 
that  his  course  had  been  wise  and  prudent,  and  was  I'ully 
approved  ;  that  the  idea  of  relieving  him  was,  in  view  of 
the  public  interests  connected  with  the  occupation  and 
organization  of  Upper  California,  inadmissible,  and  that  he 
could  not,  under  the  circumstances,  abandon  his  rank  and 
command  without  injuriously  affecting  his  reputation  as  a 
military  man.  This  letter  seems  to  have  had  the  effect  in- 
tended, and  as  his  position  grew  slill  more  arduous  and 
responsible  with  the  growth  and  developemeut  of  American 
interests  and  settlements,  his  cheerfulness  and  patience  kept 
pace  with  the  demand  for  their  exercise.  The  selection  of 
San  Francisco  bay  as  the  rendezvous  for  the  considerable 
naval  force  kept  on  the  Californiau  coast,  threw  upon  ^lajor 
Hardie,  as  the  military  commandant,  the  duties  of  hospi- 
tality that  always  arise  upon  such  occasions,  and  his  success 


JAMES    ALLEN   HARDIE.  15 

in  the  performance  of  these  social  duties  contributed  largely 
to  the  formation  and  maintenance  of  that  good  understand- 
ing between  the  two  arms  of  service  which  succeeded  the 
original  conflicts  of  authority  and  purpose  which  are  part 
of  the  history  of  the  conquest  of  California. 

In  the  summer  of  1847,  Major  Hardie,  in  conjunction 
with  tha  naval  commander  then   on  the  station,  selected 
and  reported  the  reservations  to  be  made  for  the  military, 
naval,  and   civil   purposes  of  the  General  Government  at 
San  Francisco.     In  the  following  spring  he  was  sent  to  the 
Territory  of  Oregon  to   enlist,  organize,  and   muster  in  a 
battalion  of   volunteers  for  service  in  Lower  California, 
which,  though  of  little  value  intrinsically,  the  Government 
desired  to  hold  for  the  moral  advantages  it  gave  in  treating 
with  Mexico  for  a  cessation  of  the  war.     But  despite  the 
earnest  and  intelligent  efforts  -of  Major  Hardie,  which  met 
the  warm  approval  of  Colonel  Mason,  no  volunteers  could 
be  obtained  for  such  a  tame  and  unattractive  service,  and 
a  like  attempt  to  raise  a  battalion  among  the  Mormons 
having  failed,  it  became  necessary  to  form  a  detachment 
from  the  troops  in  Upper  California,  and  Major  Hardie 
was  ordered  to  conduct  the  force  to  Lower  California,  and 
turn  it  over  to  the  commanding  officer  of  that  district. 

It  was  while  on  this  visit  to  Oregon  that  Major  Hardie 
became  an  open  convert  to  the  Roman  Catholic  religion, 
towards  which  he  had  long  been  tending,  and  within  whose 
communion  he  remained,  as  devoted,  sincere,  and  useful  a 
member  as  its  laity  ever  contained,  till  the  day  of  his  death 


16  JAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE. 

Upon  his  return  to  San  Francisco,  he  set  about  the  erection 
of  a  phice  of  worship  for  the  use  of  that  church,  and  in 
one  day  succeeded  in  collecting  $3,000,  upon  which  sum 
the  first  Catholic  church  in  San  Francisco  was  erected  in 
1848.  An  unexpected  result  of  his  joining  the  Catholic 
church  at  the  time  he  did  was  his  probable  preservation 
from  death  by  assassination,  for  stepping  into  the  lodgings 
of  a  priest  one  evening  to  converse  with  him  about  his 
newly-assumed  religious  duties,  he  made  so  long  a  stay  as 
to  wear  out  the  patience  of  a  desperate  character  who,  in 
revenge  for  a  reprimand  administered  to  him  for  an  act  of 
theft  in  which  he  had  been  detected,  had  waylaid  the  Major 
at  a  lonely  point  between  the  town  and  the  camp  at  the 
Presidio,  several  miles  distant,  for  the  purpose  of  shooting 
him.  This  desperado  was  soon  afterwards  hung  for  high- 
way robbery,  and  he  and  his  companion  in  the  crime  and 
its  punishment  played  a  game  of  cards  to  decide  which 
should  first  swing  upon  the  primitive  and  single  gallows. 

Major  Hardie  had  scarcely  returned  from  Oregon  and 
Lower  California  when  a  cry  went  up  from  Sonoma  to 
headquarters  at  Monterey  of  an  imminent  Indian  raid  upon 
the  settlements,  and  he  was  sent  to  inquire  into  the  matter 
and  if  really  necessary,  to  muster  in  a  temporary  force  of 
volunteers.  But  the  cry  turned  out  to  be  no  more  than  a 
device  to  prevent  the  withdrawal  of  the  com])auy  of  troops 
stationed  at  Sonoma,  and  whose  removal  for  service  else- 
where threatened  to  injuriously  affect  the  trade  of  that 
struggling  town.     Every  officer   who   has  served  on   the 


JAMES  ALLEN  HAKDIE.  17 

frontier,  as  well  as  the  authorities  at  Washington,  have 
since  become  familiar  with  such  devices  for  creating  or 
retaining  trade  in  the  settlements,  and  many  a  round  sum 
it  has  cost  the  Government  since  1848. 

In  the  summer  of  1848  the  "gold  fever"  began  to  rage, 
and  the  rush  of  everybody  to  the  diggings,  and  the  inflation 
of  prices  that  followed  the  coming  in  of  the  gold,  greatly 
embarrassed  the  military  officers,  both  in  keeping  their 
troops  and  in  keeping  themselves.  The  accounts  that  have 
been  written  of  the  social  disorganization  that  marked  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  developement  of  gold-mining  in  Cal- 
ifornia, seem  almost  incredible  to  the  distant  reader,  but 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  received  in  the  fall  of 
that  year  from  an  intimate  friend  at  Oregon  City,  the  capital 
of  the  Territory  of  that  name,  will  show  how  little  the  ac- 
counts of  what  happened  in  California  itself  are  exagge- 
rated. The  writer  says  :  "  Our  people  are  all  going  to  Cali- 
fornia. Our  lawyers  are  all  gone — we  are,  perhaps,  none 
the  worse  for  that — our  circuit  judge  is  gone,  and  I  am 
told  our  supreme  judge  is  going.  Most  of  our  Legislature 
are  gone,  and  in  fact,  I  am  afraid  it  will  dissolve  our  or- 
ganization." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


GARRISON  LIFE  AFTER  THE  WAR. 

The  war  with  Mexico   being  over,  Major  Hardie,  who 
had  meantime  become  a  First  Lieutenant  in  the  Third  Ar- 
tillery, was  mustered  out  of  the  volunteer  service  in  October, 
1848,  and  then,  as  an  officer   of  the   regular   army,  was 
assigned  to  the  duty  of  mustering  out  and  discharging  the 
volunteers  in  difTereut  parts  of  California.     He  also  served 
as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Engineers,  to  establish  the 
city  grades  of  San  Francisco,  and  received  a  grant  of  four 
town  lots  from  the  municipality.     In   the  spring  of  1849, 
having  seen  the  last  of  the  volunteers  mustered  out  and 
paid,  he  was  ordered  East,  and  making  the  journey  safely 
by  way  of  the  Isthmus,  was  assigned  to  a  quiet  garrison 
life  at  Fort  Trumbull,  New  London  Harbor.     He  remained 
here  till  the  summer  of  1850,  when  his  assignment  as  the 
junior  First  Lieutenant  of  Light  Company  C  of  his  regiment, 
of  which   Braxton  Bragg   was  Captain,  and  William  T. 
Sherman*  senior  First  Lieutenant,  carried  him  to  Jeiferson 
Barracks,  near  Saint  Louis.     He  was  ordered  to  convey  to 
that  station  a  detachment  of  recruits,  and  in  addition  to 
the  usual  interesting  experiences  of  an  officer  conducting 
recruits,  the  long  journey  down  the  Ohio  river   was  en- 
livened by  the  breaking  out  of  cholera  on  the  slow  and 
motlev-crowded  steamboat,  which  tied-up  every  four  hours 


20  JAMES   ALLEN   HARDIE. 

to  bury  the  victims.  By  dint  of  extraordinary  exertions 
in  keeping  the  men  of  his  detachment  clean,  lively,  and 
abstemious,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  citizen  physician  whom 
he  found  on  board  and  hired  as  surgeon  to  the  detachment, 
he  succeeded  in  bringing  all  his  recruits  safely  through  the 
perilous  journey. 

During  his  tour  of  service  at  Jefferson  Barracks,  Lieu- 
tenant Hardie  made  the  acquaintance  of  Miss  Margaret 
Hunter,  of  St.  Louis,  niece  of  his  old  commander  in  Cali- 
fornia, Colonel  Mason,  of  the  dragoons,  and  in  1851  they 
were  married  in  that  city.  Eight  children  were  born  of 
that  marriage,  of  whom  three  preceded  their  father  to  the 
grave.  Life  was  pleasant  at  Jefferson  Barracks,  and  the 
appointment  of  judge  advocate  of  a  general  court-martial 
convened  at  that  station,  gratified  the  desire  of  the  still 
youthful  ofKcer  for  mental  employment ;  but  in  the  fall  of 
1851,  the  resignation  of  the  regimental  uiljutant,  now 
Professor  Quinby,  of  the  Rochester  University,  made  a 
vacancy  in  that  office  which  the  regimental  commander,  in 
the  solemn  and  deliberate  and  somewhat  stilted  phraseology 
used  by  elderly  military  men  in  those  days  in  communi- 
cating with  their  juniors,  tendered  to  Lieutenant  Hardie. 
The  appointment  was  of  course  accepted  with  becoming 
modesty  and  expressions  of  a  proper  sense  of  responsibility, 
and  the  new  adjutant,  with  his  young  wife,  left  Jefferson 
Barracks  for  the  regimental  headquarters  at  Fort  Adams, 
Newport,  Rhode  Island.  The  new  position  involved  plenty 
of  administrative  and   office   work,  and   in  it   Lieutenant 


JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE.  21 

Hardie  strengthened  both  his  reputation  for  administrative 
ability  and  his  liking  for  staff  employments.  He  remained 
at  Newport  till  nearly  the  end  of  18o3,  when,  as  he  was 
about  embarking  on  the  disastrous  voyage  of  the  ill-fated 
"  San  Francisco  "  for  the  Pacific  coast,  to  which  station 
his  regiment  and  its  headquarters  had  been  transferred 
by  General  Scott,  he  received  an  order  appointing  him 
one  of  the  aides-de-camp  of  ^NEajor  General  Wool,  whose 
headquarters  were  then  at  Baltimore,  and  thus  escaped  the 
peril,  and  possibly  the  death  that  overtook  so  many  of  his 
regiment.  He  shortly  after  accompanied  General  Wool 
to  California,  when  that  officer  went  out  to  command  the 
Pacific  department,  and  :-erved  on  his  staff  till  JNIay,  1855, 
when  he  resumed  his  position  as  regimental  adjutant, 
receiving  a  very  gracious  letter  from  General  Wool  on 
retiring,  in  which  that  precise  and  careful  writer  said  to 
him  :  "  You  have  served  with  ability,  honesty  and  %ith- 
fulness  ;  indeed,  no  one  could  have  served  better  or  more 
to  my  satisfaction." 

In  those  early  days,  California  was  an  unwelcome  station 
to  an  army  officer  that  happened  to  be  married,  and  in 
1854,  George  H.  Thomas,  who  nearly  twenty  years  after, 
died  at  San  Francisco  a  major-general,  and  in  command  of 
the  Pacific  division,  was  a  captain  in  the  Third  Artillery, 
on  duty  at  West  Point,  but  under  orders  to  join  his  regi- 
ment as  soon  as  relieved  by  Colonel  Robert  E.  Lee.  He 
wrote  to  Lieutenant  Hardie,  begging  him  to  send  him  all 
the  information  he  could  about  the  several  stations  of  the 


95 


JAMES  ALLEN    HARDIE 


regiment  and  whether  he  had  better  bring  his  wife,  or  leave 
her  at  home,  adding,  "  I  am  somewhat  inclined  to  think 
that  California  will  not  be  adapted  for  the  residence  of 
ladies  for  many  years  to  come." 

In  California,  Lieutenant  Hardie,  in  1854,  found  his  old 
comrade,  "  Tecumseh,"  or,  as  he  was  then  universally  called, 
"  Bill  "  Sherman,  who,  having  resigned  from  the  army,  was 
in  the  full  tide  of  civil  life  as  a  banker  and  broker  at  San 
Francisco.  They  had  been  closely  associated  in  1847  and 
1848,  on  the  same  ground,  and  again  at  St.  Louis  in  1850 
and  1851,  and  a  close  and  warm  intercourse  and  corres- 
pondence sprang  up  between  them  at  once,  many  of  the 
letters  passing  between  them  at  Benicia  and  San  Francisco 
being  extant,  and  showing  them  both  in  characters  of  which 
their  children  have  no  cause  to  be  ashamed.  From  only 
one  of  those  letters  will  any  quotation  be  made,  and  that 
because  it  constitutes  an  interesting  reminiscence  of  a  public 
event  which  has  grown  dim,  no  doubt,  in  the  memory  of 
Californians.  In  a  letter  dated  August  29, 1855,  from  Sher- 
man to  Hardie,  the  former  says :  "  We  are  to  have  a  cele- 
bration on  the  10th  September,  by  the  California  pioneers, 
and  by  the  people  generally.  Can't' you  join?  If  you 
know  of  any  saddle  or  bridle  fixings  suitable  for  parade, 
put  me  on  the  track,  as  there  will  be  a  scarcity.  I  have 
saddle  and  bridle  and  the  promise  of  a  saddle  cloth.  Still, 
if  I  could  lay  my  hand  on  a  full  rig,  I  would  be  better 
satisfied,  as  I  havo  to  act  us  grand  marshal  on  the  occasion.'' 


CHAPTER  V. 


EXPEDITION   AGAINST   SPOKAN   INDIANS, 

In  October,  1857,  Lieuteuant  Hardie  reached  the  grade 
of  captain  by  regular  promotion  in  his  regiment,  and  left 
the  adjutantcy  for  the  command  of  a  company  at  San 
Bernardino.  The  following  year  his  company  formed  part 
of  the  expedition  conducted  by  Colonel  George  Wright 
against  the  Spokan  Indians  in  Washington  Territory,  who 
had  become,  after  their  surprise  and  massacre  of  part  of 
Coh)nel  Steptoe's  command,  hostile,  insolent,  and  defiant. 
The  story  of  this  expedition  was.  at  its  close,  written  in  an 
interesting  manner  by  Lieutenant  Lawrence  Kip,  of  the 
Third  Artillery,  and  published.  Few  campaigns  in  the 
Indian  country  have  been  better  planned  and  executed,  or 
more  successful.  The  pride  of  the  Spokans,  and  of  their 
allies,  the  Pelouse,  Coeur  d'Alene,  and  Fend  d'Orcille  bands, 
was  completely  broken  in  two  engagements,  in  which  the 
Indians  suffered  severely,  while  the  troops,  owing  to  the 
skillful  manao-ement  of  their  commander  and  the  use  of 
the  newly-introduced  long-range  rifle,  escaped  without  any 
loss  of  life  and  with  but  few  wounds.  The  Indians  fought 
with  marked  bravery,  but  this  only  added  to  their  losses, 
and  increased  the  moral  effects  of  their  defeat.  Captain 
Hardie,  being  the  field-officer  of  the  day  at  the  time  of  the 
first  engagement,  and  therefore  in  charge  of  the  camp,  took 


24  JAMES   ALLEN    HAEDIE. 

uo  active  part  therein,  but  in  the  second,  known  as  the 
battle  of  Spokan  Plains,  hi.s  company  was  on  the  skirmish 
line  and  bore  a  prominent  part  in  the  action,  advancing 
upon  the  enemy  through  the  flames  of  the  prairie  grass  in 
which  the  savages  had  enveloped  Colonel  Wright  and  his 
command.  The  action  lasted  seven  hours,  and  at  its  close 
the  troops  found  themselves  fourteen  miles  beyond  the  point 
of  its  commencement,  worn  out,  and  famished  for  water. 

Upon  the  return  of  the  expedition  to  Fort  Walla  Walla, 
its  point  of  assembling  and  departure,  the  troops  were  dis- 
tributed, and  Captain  Hardie  went  to  Fort  Vancouver ; 
then  to  the  Cascades ;  then  back  to  Vancouver ;  then  to 
the  Dalles.  In  July,  I860,  he  became  adjutant-general 
of  the  Department  of  Oregon,  commanded  by  Colonel 
Wright,  and  continued  in  that  position  till  ordered  east  in 
May,  1861,  upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion.  In 
the  fall  of  1860,  he  effected  an  insurance  upon  his  life,  a 
step  that  involved  a  considerable  pecuniary  sacrifice,  for 
the  entries  in  his  memorandum  books  show  how  severe  was 
the  struggle,  from  year  to  year,  to  provide  for  the  wants  of 
a  growing  family,  in  a  frontier  country,  out  of  the  slender 
pay  of  an  army  officer.  These  mute  witnesses  of  the  rigor 
of  the  Government  in  dealing  with  its  faithful  servants, 
plead  eloquently  for  generous  treatment  of  the  army  in 
peace,  as  well  as  in  war. 

The  journals  and  scrap-books  of  Captain  Hardie,  kept 
during  the  fall  of  i860,  show  how  intently  he  watched  the 
progress  and  attempted  to  forcrusi  the  result   of  the  seces- 


JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE.  25 

siou  inoveiueut  in  the  South.  His  own  purpose  to  stand 
by  the  Government  seems  to  have  been  all  the  time  clear, 
but  that  he  yielded  no  blind  obedience  may  be  inferred 
from  his  studies  upon  the  right  of  revolution  and  armed 
resistance,  considered  both  upon  philosophic  and  religious 
grounds.  There  is  also  an  unfinished  study  of  slavery, 
in  which,  though  admitting  its  lawful  existence  and  right 
of  protection  till  lawfully  destroyed,  he  condemns  the 
system  of  slavery  in  general  upon  high  moral  grounds, 
and  asserts  the  equality  of  man  in  nature,  and  the  existence 
of  a  native  feeling  of  independence  in  the  heart  of  man 
that  ought  to  be  respected.  A  poetical  composition  of 
great  merit,  entitled  "  Stars  of  my  Country's  Sky,"  clipped 
from  a  New  England  paper  and  constituting  an  eloquent 
appeal  against  the  breaking  up  of  the  Union,  seems  to 
have  attracted  his  especial  favor.  In  December,  18(30,  he 
received  a  letter  from  his  old  company  commander  at 
Jefferson  barracks,  Braxton  Bragg,  who  had  left  the  army 
and  was  living  as  a  planter  at  Thibodeaux,  Louisiana. 
This  letter,  which  was  in  reference  to  some  matter  con- 
nected with  the  regiment,  and  bore  evidence  of  how- 
impossible  it  is  for  an  old  officer  to  separate  himself  iVoin 
the  army  by  resigning  his  commission  and  turning  civilian, 
contained,  of  course,  a  reference  to  the  topic  then  upper- 
most in  men's  minds,  and  in  view  of  the  part  borne  by  the 
writer  in  the  events  that  followed  it  in  point  of  time,  what 
he  said  may  be  of  present  interest,  it  l)eing  premised  that 


26  JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

the  writer  died  but  a  few  weeks  before  the  recipient  of  the 
letter.     The  following  is  the  extract : 

"  My  life  has  been  a  verj-  retired  one  in  the  country,  and  up  to 
this  time  as  prosperous  as  man  lias  the  right  to  expect ;  but  a 
change  has  just  come  over  affairs  in  our  country  which  you  have 
heard  ere  this,  and  which  it  is  shocking  to  contemplate.  Political 
agitators,  for  their  own  selfish  ends,  have  brought  us  to  the  verge 
of  civil  war,  and  if  we  avoid  that,  I  see  no  way  of  saving  our 
country.  Government  is  now  virtually  dissolved  ;  and  whether 
it  can  be  reconstructed,  or  whether  we  are  to  remain  in  anarchy, 
or  resort  to  arms,  with  friends  and  brothers  opposed,  without  a 
reason  or  an  object,  no  one  can  foresee.  Escaping  the  horrors  of 
civil  war,  pecuniary  ruin  can  but  overtake  those  of  us  who  are 
but  partially  established.  You  are  to  be  envied  in  Oregon  and 
California.  Bound  to  neither  party,  you  may  decline  the  fate  of 
either  and  .«et  up  for  yourselves.  Would  that  my  lot  was  on  the 
Pacific!  " 

Several  times  duriug  his  tour  of  service  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  the  name  of  Lieutenant  and  Captain  Hardie  had 
been  forwarded  to  Washington  with  recommendations  for 
his  promotion  and  transfer  to  the  general  staff,  for  which 
branch  of  the  service  he  had  always  shown  tiiat  peculiar 
aptness  that  should  constitute  the  chief  recommendation 
for  appointment  in  it.  But  these  appointments  lay  first  in 
the  control  of  .Jetf'erson  Davis,  and  subseciucntly  of  John 
B.  Floyd,  successive  Secretaries  of  War,  with  whom  the 
oflicers  that  recommended  Captain  Hardie,  though  men  of 
the  first  rank  and  reputation  in  the  army,  had  no  influence, 
and  though  political  influence  was  not  beyond  Ids  reach, 
and  the  use  of  it  was  urged  upon  him  l)y  nnuy  friend.* 
anxious  for  his  success,  he  shrunk  tiom   resorting  to  what 


JAMES   ALLEN    HARDIE.  27 

he  regarded  as  au  unmilitary  way  of  gainiug  a  military 
advantage.  Cousequeutly,  when  ordered  east  in  May,  1801, 
he  was  still  a  captain  of  artillery,  with  no  prospect  of  pro- 
motion in  that  small  and  select  arm  of  the  service  for  years 
to  come.  In  tbe  large  increase  of  the  regular  army 
ordered  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  only  one  regiment 
was  added  to  the  artillery,  and  to  that  he  was  transferred 
with  several  other  officers  of  the  four  regiments  of  artillery, 
in  order  to  leaven  the  new  lump  w'ith  old  material.  This 
transfer  made  him  the  senior  captain  in  the  new  regiment, 
but  did  not  better  his  prospects  of  promotion  to  the  rank 
of  major,  which  does  not  go  regimentally,  like  the  grades 
below  it.  His  departure  from  California  was  sweetened  by 
a  farewell  letter  from  the  commander  of  the  department, 
full  of  hearty  and  sincere  tributes  to  his  personal  and  pro- 
fessional character,  and  the  Catholic  vicar-general  of  the 
diocese  in  which  Oregon  was  embraced  also  wrote  him  an 
affectionate  letter  in  which  he  says  :  "  I  have  this  evening 
recommended  to  the  prayers  of  the  arch-confraternity  all 
the  troops  that  leave,  or  will  leave  Oregon  and  Washing- 
ton for  the  terrible  struggle  that  threatens  our  country." 


CHAPTER  VI. 


SERVICE    A\  ITU    ARMY    OF   THE    POTOMAC. 

Captiiiii  Hardie  reached  New  York  in  safety,  and  in  the 
late  summer  of  1861,  made  his  way  to  Washington.  Con- 
gress was  in  special  session,  and  had  been  at  work  on  the 
army,  and  his  first  experience  was  that  the  lieutenants  who 
had  been  serving  on  the  staff  at  Washinaton  with  the  tern- 
porary  rank  of  captain,  and  were  therefore  on  the  ground 
to  look  after  their  interests,  had,  by  the  potency  of  an  act 
of  Congress,  been  legislated  at  one  bound  into  the  perma- 
nent rank  of  major,  and  so  exchanged  places  with  those 
who  but  yesterday  were  their  seniors  in  rank,  as  they  still 
were  in  years  and  in  length  of  service.  No  censure  at- 
tached to  these  young  officers  for  getting  such  promotion  as 
they  could  in  the  general  infiation  of  the  number  and  rank 
of  army  officers  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  war  that  had 
become  flagrant,  but  it  was  a  bitter,  though  perhaps  only 
a  brief  trial  to  those  officers  who  had  been  relatively  re- 
duced iu  rank  by  this  act  of  legislation,  and  especially  to 
those  who,  like  Captain  Hardie,  had  been  prevented  by 
absence  on  distant  service  from  obtaining  any  advantage 
from  the  new  legislation  during  the  short  time  only  in 
which  there  were  any  promotions  available.  After  an  un- 
successful effort  to  get  a  staff'  appointment  to  his  liking,  he 


30  JAMES   ALLEN    HARDIE. 

joined  the  headquarters  of  the  new  reguneiit  of  artillery  to 
which  he  had  been  transferred,  and  which  at  the  time  con- 
sisted only  of  officers.     He  was  ordered  to  the  New  England 
States   on  recruiting  service,  S^^ptember   2,  LSGl,  and  was 
turning  over  and  over  the  problem  as  to  where  recruits  for 
the   regular  army  could  be  found  when  every  State  was 
exerting  itself  to  raise  its  ([uota  of  volunteers  under  the 
call  issued  immediately  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  when 
he  was  recalled  to  Washington  by  a  telegram  which  noti- 
fied him  of  his  appointment  to  a  lieutenant  colonelcy  on 
the  stafl'  of  Major-General  MeClcllan,  who  had   been  as- 
sio-ned  to  the  command  of  the  army  upou  the  retirement  of 
General  Scott,     This  was  indeed  a  welcome  change  of  rank 
and  duty.     On  reporting  to   General   McClellan,  he  was 
associated  with   Brigadier  General  Williams,  the  adjutant 
general  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  in  conducting  the 
great  and  increasing  business  of  the  adjutant  u'eneral's  de- 
partment of  that  ever  growing  army.     The  duty  was  con- 
o-enial,  and,  within    the   knowledge   of  everv   division  and 
brigade  commander  of  the  army,  was  ;idiniral)ly  performed. 
One  of  the  special  charges  of  Colonel  Hardic  was  to  keep 
constantly  informed  of  the  organization  of  tlie  army  with 
respect  to  the  composition   of  its  brigades  and  divisions ; 
also  the  names  of  the  regimental   and   other  commanders, 
the  locations  of  the  camps,  avaihible  strength  of  the  organ- 
izations, means   of  transportation,  character  of  armament, 
and  other  like   particulars.     This  information   he  kept   in 
small  mrinoranilum  ])oeket  books,  so   us    to   have   it   at  all 


JAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE.  ol 

times  available,  and  the  tabular  statements  in  which  he 
presented  it  are  models  of  patience  and  ingenuity. 

Colonel  Hardie  accompanied  General  McClellan  in  the 
Peninsular  and  Maryland  campaigns  of  1862,  and  was 
retained  by  General  Burnside,  who  had  served  with  him 
in  by-gone  years,  when  both  were  Lieutenants  in  the  Third 
Artillery.  At  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  December  13, 
1862,  he  was  sent  by  Gonenil  Buruside  to  remain  with 
General  Franklin,  and  report  the  progress  of  the  operations 
under  charge  of  that  officer  on  the  left,  and  this  duty  he 
performed  with  such  intelligence  and  fidelity,  that  when  an 
unfortunate  controversy  arose  between  the  two  com- 
manders as  to  the  responsibility  ibr  the  failure  of  those 
operations,  they  both  referred  to  the  field  despatches  of 
General  Hardie,  for  he  had  just  been  appointed  a  brigadier 
general  of  volunteers,  as  exhibiting  a  true  statement  of 
the  orders  given  and  of  the  operations  that  occurred. 

IMention  has  just  been  made  of  Colonel  Hardie's 
advancement  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  general.  Before 
the  removal  of  General  McClellan  from  the  command  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  Colonel  Hardie  had  contem- 
plated ail  effort  to  see  whether  the  influence  he  had  gained 
during  his  service  at  headquarters,  added  to  his  military 
record  of  twenty  years,  would  not  secure  him  a  larger  field 
of  action,  together  with  the  promotion  that  so  many  of  his 
contemporaries  had  received  through  their  better  fortune, 
but  he  had  taken  no  steps  in  the  matter,  and  the  removal 
of  General  McClellan  terminated  his  plans   for  the  time 


32  JAMES  ALLEN    HARDIE 

being.  He  soon  learned,  however,  that  General  Biirnside, 
with  characteristic  generosity,  had  no  sooner  acquired  the 
influence  resulting  from  his  appointment  to  the  command 
of  the  array,  than  he  forwarded  the  name  of  Colonel 
Hardie  to  the  War  Department  lor  promotion  to  the  rank 
of  britradier,  and  had  obtained  from  several  of  his  divi- 
sional  commanders  endorsements  of  his  own  recommenda- 
tion. The  subject  being  thus  broached,  and  in  a  manner 
gratifying  to  the  modest  nature  of  Colonel  Hardie,  the  latter 
applied  to  several  officers  of  high  rank,  who  knew  him  well, 
to  add  their  testimonials  of  his  merit  and  fitness  to  those 
voluntarily  forwarded  to  Washington  by  General  Burnside. 
From  the  recommendations  thus  placed  on  record  in  the 
War  Office,  the  following  extracts,  selected  as  being 
of  probable  interest  to  the  readers  of  this  Memoir,  are 
given  below : 

"  Colonel  Hardie  was  a  cltiss-mate  of  mine,  and  consequently 
an  acquaintance  of  over  twenty-three  years  has  existed.  I  do 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  he  is  well  qualified  for  the  position  of 
brigadier  general,  having  served  continuously  in  the  army  from 
the  time  of  his  graduation  to  the  present  time,  and  always  enjoy- 
ing the  confidence  of  those  with  whom  he  has  been  associated. 
*  *  The  service  is  already  retarded  by  the  appointment  of  so 
manj'  men  without  military  experience,  that  I  feel  as  if  a  great 
benefit  had  been  done  every  time  an  officer  of  his  class  is 
advanced." — General  Grant. 

"  1  beg  leave  to  add  my  own  recommendation,  based  upon  a 
long  acquaintance  with  that  most  meritorious  officer,  and  a  full 
knowledge  of  his  eminent  qualifications  for  the  promotion  for 
which  his  name  is  presented." — General  Burnside, 

"  I  desire  to  add  my  testimonj'  to   that  of  many   others   to  his 


JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE.  33 

eminent  qualifications  for  that  station.  He  is  familiar  with  the 
duties,  and  will  be  earnest,  zealous  and  devoted,  in  the  discharge 
of  them." — General  Hooker. 

"  Lieutenant  Colonel  Hardie  was  one  of  mj-  aides-de-camp  in 
California.  I  always  found  him  an  intelligent,  active  and  efficient 
officer.  Should  he  obtain  the  office  of  brigadier  general,  I  have 
no  doubt  he  would  discharge  his  duties  with  ability  and  distinc- 
tion. I  would  be  delighted  to  have  him  under  my  command." — 
General  Wool. 

"  Lieutenant  Colonel  Hardie  is  an  excellent  and  talented  officer, 
and  would  worthily  till  the  position  of  brigadier  general  of 
volunteers.  I  trust  he  may  be  so  commissioned.  I  have  been 
acquainted  with  Colonel  Hardie  for  twenty-two  years  ;  he  has 
been  a  faithful  officer  in  every  position  in  the  army  in  which  he 
has  been  placed.'" — General  Hancock. 

"  Lieutenant  Colonel  Hardie  has  served  in  the  same  regiment 
with  myself  for  over  eighteen  years,  and  it  gives  me  great  pleasure 
to  bear  testimony  to  his  soldierly  qualities  and  ability,  his  faithful 
and  assiduous  devotion  to  his  profession.  His  usefulness  in  his 
present  position  as  adjutant  general  on  the  staff"  at  headquarters 
has,  I  conceive,  been  a  bar  to  his  advancement,  up  to  the  present 
time,  which  in  justice  ought  no  longer  to  be  allowed  to  remain." 
— General  Keynolds,  of  Gettysburg. 

"  No  officer  of  his  rank  can  show  a  record  of  continuous  hard 
service  which  will  excel  Captain  Hardie's." — General  Frank- 
lin. 

"  I  take  the  liberty  of  uniting  my  testimony  to  that  already  re- 
ceived as  to  his  eminent  fitness  for  the  duties  belonging  to  the  rank 
of  a  general  officer.  *  *  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  noting 
his  rare  devotion  to  duty,  bis  talents,  his  high  qualifications  as  a 
cultivated  officer,  and  his  fine  qualities  as  a  soldier." — General 
Humphreys. 

"  My  confidence  in  his  ability  and  his  merits  are  such  that  it 
would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  have  him  assigned  to  duty  with 
me  if  the  President  should  confer  the  appointment  upon  him.' — 
General  Butterfieli). 


34  ,  JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

It  being  evident  that  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg  would 
be  followed  by  a  repose  of  several  weeks  at  least,  General 
McClellaii,  who  was  anxious  to  have  the  services  of  Gen- 
eral Hardie  iu  the  preparation  of  his  report  on  the  organi- 
zation and  operations  of  the  Array  of  the  Potomac  between 
the  dates  of  his  assignment  to,  and  removal  from  its  com- 
mand, applied  to  the  War  Department  for  them,  and  with 
the  consent  of  General  Burnside,  he  was  sent  to  General 
McClellau  in  New  York,  and  did  a  great  deal  of  work  in 
preparing  material  for  the  document  upon  which  General 
McClellan  purposed  to  rely  for  the  vindication  of  his 
military  character,  and,  possibly,  the  redemption  of  his 
military  fortunes.  Upon  the  appointment  of  General 
Hooker  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
that  officer,  finding  the  discipline  of  the  army  somewhat 
loosened  by  the  events  of  the  two  preceding  mouths,  re- 
solved, as  one  of  the  means  of  restoring  it,  to  improve  the 
character  of  trials  by  courts  martial  and  courts  of  inquiry, 
which  had  become  somewhat  uncertain  and  inefficient  in 
their  operations,  as  well  as  unduly  numerous.  He  there- 
fore cast  about  for  a  fitting  officer  to  place  on  duty  as  judge 
advocate  general  of  his  army  and  settled  upon  General 
Hardie,  whose  return  to  headquarters  he  therefore  solicited. 
At  the  same  time  his  services  were  applied  for  by  the  Ad- 
jutant General,  whose  duties  had  so  grown  under  the  con- 
tinual enlargement  of  the  array,  and  the  raultiplication  of 
commands,  organizations,  and  military  districts  and  station.'^, 
as  the  national  forces  spread  themselves  over  the  >Suutli, 


JAMES   ALLEN    HARDIE.  do 

that  the  need  of  additional  assistants  of  experience  and 
skill  in  army  administration  had  become  imperative.  Gen- 
eral Hooker  was  not  disposed  to  surrender  his  project  of 
making  General  Hardie  the  judge  advocate  general  of  his 
army,  but  yielded  at  length  to  the  representations  from 
Washington,  and  General  Hardie,  seeing  that  he  was  in- 
evitably destined  for  staff  duty  and  receiving  the  tender  of 
a  major's  rank  in  the  adjutant  general's  department  at  once, 
with  assurances  that  his  withdrawal  from  the  field  should 
not  prejudice  his  claims  to  future  consideration,  accepted 
the  offer  and  assurances,  and,  vacating  his  volunteer  rank 
of  brigadier,  entered  upon  duty  as  assistant  to  the  adjutant 
general,  with  his  rank  as  lieutenant  colonel  and  aide-de- 
camp. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


SERVICE   IN   THE    WAR   DEPARTMENT. 

Colonel  Hardie's  duties  as  assistant  adjutant  general 
brought  him  into  personal  acquaintance  with  Secretary 
Stanton,  who  had  in  a  high  degree  the  faculty  of  judging 
the  character  and  capacities  of  men  instantaneously,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  the  Secretary,  whose  own  labors, 
herculean  as  they  already  were,  were  ever  increasing, 
found  Colonel  Hardie  so  valuable  to  himself  that  his 
services  in  the  Adjutant  General's  Office  were  terminated 
by  his  transfer  to  the  staff  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 

In  the  latter  part  of  June,  1863,  while  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  was  endeavoring  by  forced  marches  to  intercept 
General  Lee  in  his  advance  into  Pennsylvania,  and  Gen- 
eral Hooker  was  hoping  by  a  successful  issue  to  the 
impending  battle  to  retrieve  the  reputation  he  had  lost  at 
Chaucellorsville,  the  authorities  at  Washington  determined 
to  supersede  him  by  General  Meade,  commander  of  one  of 
his  corps.  The  motives  for  this  action  have  nothing  to  do 
with  this  narrative,  and  are  not  therefore  discussed.  Gen- 
eral Hooker,  naturally  reluctant  to  abandon  the  chance  of 
recovering  his  fortunes,  was  at  last  made  to  see  that  it  was 
not  intended  to  entrust  him  with  the  conduct  of  the  great 
and  decisive  battle  which  was  clearly  foreseen,  and  on  June 
27,  the  orders  of  the  President  for  the  change  of  com- 

27v2Sl 


38  JAMES  ALLEN    HARDIE 

raanders  were  made  out  at  the  War  Department.    Secretary 
Stanton,  who  seemed  to  have  a  special  anxiety  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  these  orders  should  be  communicated  and 
executed,  called  Colonel   Hardie  into  the  room  where  he 
was  closeted  with  President  Lincoln  and  General  Halleck, 
bade  him  read  carefully  the  orders  and  memorize  their  sub- 
stance, and  then  directed  him  to  leave  at  once  by  rail  for 
Frederick  City,  at  which  point  the  Federal  army  had  ar- 
rived on  its  northward  march,  and  finding  General  Meade, 
without  communicating  his  mission  to  anybody,  accompany 
that  officer  to  the  headquarters  of  General  Hooker,  and 
see  the  command  transferred  to  him  both    formally    and 
actually.     He  was  further  directed  to  remain  long  enough 
to   ascertain  the  positions  of  the  army,  and  the  plans  and 
dispositions  of  the  new  commander,  and  then  return  to 
Washington  and  report.     Should  the  railway  be  cut    by 
the  raiding  Confederate  cavalry,  he  was  directed  to  avail 
himself  of  whatever  other  opportunity  there  was  of  getting 
to  Frederick  City,  and  if  necessary  to  destroy  the  orders 
to  prevent  their  coming  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  he 
was  still,  if  he  could  reach  Frederick  City,  to  communicate 
them  verbally  and  insist  upon  their  execution,  as  both  his 
person  and  his  position  were  well  known  to  the  two  officers 
concerned. 

Colonel  Hardie  reached  Frederick  City  in  safety,  though 
not  without  several  alarms,  and  found  the  town  and  the 
roads  leading  to  the  camps  beyond  full  of  carousing 
soldiery.     Ascertaining  that  General  Meade's  headquarters 


JAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE.  39 

were  several  miles  out  of  town,  he  obtained  a  conveyance 
with  great  difficulty — it  being  long  past  midnight — -and 
after  a  slow  and  troublesome  progress  past  the  throng  of 
soldiers  returning  to  their  camps,  reached  General  Meade's 
headquarters  and  peneti-ated  to  his  tent  without  disclosing 
his  name,  rank  or  business.  General  Meade,  awakened 
from  the  brief  rest  he  was  taking,  after  the  labors  of  the 
day  and  night,  by  Colonel  Hardie's  colloquy  with  the 
sentinel  in  front  of  the  tent,  and  recognizing  his  visitor,  ex- 
pressed astonishment  at  seeing  him  there,  and,  when 
informed  that  it  was  business  from  Washington  that 
brought  him,  was  so  little  prepared  for  the  nature  of  that 
business,  that  his  comments  showed  his  fears  that  calumny 
and  intrigue  had  been  busy  with  him,  as  with  so  many 
other  officers  of  rank  in  that  army.  When  he  had  read 
the  order  of  the  President  and  realized  its  import,  he  soon 
made  his  visitor  aware  that  nothing  but  his  sense  of  im- 
plicit obedience  to  any  lawful  command  would  induce  him 
to  obey  it,  and  he  shrunk,  as  did  Colonel  Hardie  himself, 
from  the  preordained  manner  of  executing  it,  by  going 
secretly  to  the  headquarters  of  General  Hooker  and  de- 
manding possession  of  the  chief  command,  instead  of 
permitting  General  Hooker  to  be  first  made  aware  of  the 
state  of  affiiirs,  so  that  he  might  send  for  his  successor  and 
invest  him  with  it  in  his  own  time  and  manner.  But  as 
even  this  part  of  the  programme  had  been  carefully  con- 
sidered at  Washington,  doubtless  there  appeared  good 
reasons  at  the  time  to  the  authorities  why  the  feelings  of 


40  .TAMES    ALLEN   HAKDIE. 

two  meritorious  officers  like  Generals  Hooker  and  Meade 
should  be  sacrificed  to  a  public  exigency,  and  certainly 
some  thoughtfulness  was  shown  in  sending  Colonel  Hardie 
to  supervise  so  delicate  a  transaction;  he  being  on  terms  of 
intimacy  with  both  officers,  and  known  to  them  both  as 
sensitive  and  thoughtful  in  his  dealings  with  his  fellow-men 
to  the  last  degree. 

General   Meade  had   shared    the  opinion   of  the  whole 
army,  that  if  General  Hooker  were  to  be  superseded,  Gen- 
eral Reynolds,  commauder  of  the  First  Corps,  should  and 
would  be  appointed   to  the  chief  command,  and  as  they 
were  devoted  friends,  his  anxiety  to  confer  with  Reynolds 
was  intense,  but  had  to  give  way  to  the  imperative  order 
to  assume  command  of  the  army  at  once.     So,  attended  by 
Colonel  Hardie,  he  proceeded  to  the  headquarters  of  Gen- 
eral Hooker,  where,  with  only  such  manifestation  of  feeling 
as  w'as  natural   upon  the  occasion,  the  operation  that  had 
been  so  anxiously  planned  at  Washington  was  quietly  per- 
formed.    Colonel  Hardie  remained  nearly  all  the  day  of 
June  28,  and  took  a  leading  part  in  the  preparation  of  the 
orders  of  Generals  Hooker    and  Meade  announcing  the 
change  of  command,  adding  to  the  latter,  with  the  warm 
approval     of    General    Meade,    a   })aragraph     paying    a 
generous  tribute  to  ^he  past  glories   of  the  retiring  chief 
Then,  as  soon  as  General  Meade  had  ascertained  the  posi- 
tions of  his  army,  and  determined   upon  his  general  plan 
of  operation.  Colonel    Hardie  returned  to  Washington  and 
made  his  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War. 


JAMES    ALLEX    IIAKDIE.  41 

In  the  fall  of  18(>8,  Secretary  Stautou  made  his  theu 
famous  trip  to  the  west  to  meet  General  Grant  and  fix 
upon  a  plan  for  combining  all  the  military  forces  and 
operations  in  the  southwest  under  that  officer,  and  as  it 
was  necessary,  in  the  absence  of  Assistant  Secretary  Wat- 
son, to  have  some  one  designated,  under  the  sign-manual 
of  the  President,  to  perform  the  indispensable  duties  of 
the  Secretary  at  Washington,  he  drew  up  and  the  Presi- 
dent signed,  the  following  instrument : 

"  Uctoher  17,  1863. 
"  Lt.  Col.  James  Hardie  is  authorized  to  perform  the  duties  of 
Secretary  of  "War  during  the  temporary  absence  of  the  Secretary 
and  Assistant  Secretar\-. 

"  Abraham  Lincoln." 

This  appointment  Colonel  Hardie  held  till  the  return  of 
Mr.  Stanton. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1864,  Secretary  Stanton,  knowing 
that  the  plans  of  General  Grant  for  the  coming  campaign 
would,  in  the  progress  of  their  execution,  uncover  Wash- 
ington so  far  as  his  army  was  concerned,  and  possibly 
render  necessary  a  reduction  of  the  garrison  to  reinforce 
the  troops  at  the  front,  an  event  that  really  happened, 
became  anxious  for  accurate  information  as  to  the  state  of 
the  defenses  of  Washington,  and  how  they  could  be  im- 
proved and  strengthened  to  meet  the  two  contingencies 
above  mentioned.  He  sent  for  Colonel  Hardie,  and,  ex- 
plaining to  him  his  ideas  upon  the  subject,  directed  him 
to   make   an   exhaustive   and   personal   inspection  of  the 


42  .TAMILS    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

defeiisey,  and  report  both  upon  the  actual  state  of  the 
works  and  their  garrisons,  and  what  was  needed  to  increase 
the  strength  of  the  first  and  the  morale  and  efficiency  of 
the  last.  This  was  native  and  congenial  duty,  and  it  is 
not  surprising  that  it  was  so  well  performed  as  to  greatly 
add  to  the  good  opinion  already  held  by  the  Secretary  as 
to  the  talents  and  industry  of  his  military  assistant,  and  at 
the  same  moment  an  opportunity  arose  of  manifesting  his 
regard  in  a  substantial  manner  of  which  he  was  not  slow 
to  avail  himself  The  death  of  Colonel  Van  Kensselaer, 
Inspector  General,  an  aged  officer  of  the  army,  being 
reported  to  the  AVar  Department  March  24,  1864,  Mr. 
Stanton  immediately  made  out  the  nomination  of  Colonel 
Hardie  for  the  vacant  place  and  carried  it  to  the  President, 
who  as  promptly  signed  it  and  transmitted  it  to  the  Senate, 
where  it  received  the  unusual  compliment  of  an  immediate, 
as  well  as  a  unanimous  confirmation.  The  manner  in 
which  this  appointment  was  conferred  was  thus  as  gratify- 
ing as  the  promotion  it  gave  of  two  grades  in  the  perma- 
nent branch  of  that  profession  to  which  Colonel  Hardie 
had  devoted  his  life.  Thus,  too,  was  redeemed  the  promise 
that  his  withdrawal  from  the  field  to  take  a  less  conspic- 
uous l)ut  more  useful  post  in  that  departtncnt,  without 
whose  efficient  working  achievements  in  tlu-  field  would  be 
impossible  or  vain,  should  not  bar  his  advancement. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


SERVICE  IN  INSPECTOR  GENERAl's  DEPARTMENT. 

The  transfer  of  Colonel  Hardie  to  the  inspection  branch 
of  the  array  was  agreeable  to  himself  because,  both  as  a 
line  and  a  staff  officer,  and  as  a  result  of  his  observation 
and  of  his  military  studies,  and  without  any  idea  that  his 
fate  would  ever  carry  him  into  the  post  of  au  Inspector 
General,  he  had  always  held  high  views  of  the  necessity 
and  advantage  of  a  good  inspection   service  for  an  army. 
Being  put  in  charge  of  the  Inspection  Bureau  at  Washing- 
ton, in  addition  to  his  duties  under  the  Secretary  of  War, 
he  exerted  himself  to  do  his  part  towards  developing  and 
improving  the  service  and  thus  to  magnify  his  office  in  the 
best  meaning  of  that  phrase.     An  embarrassment  to  a  man  ' 
of  his  nature  was  that  three  of  the  officers  of  the  depart- 
ment of  which  he  was   made  the  acting  chief  were  his 
seniors  in  rank,  but  he  so  dealt  with  this  subject  as  to  be 
free  fronl  apprehensions  of  any  feelings  of  resentment  on 
their  parts  wheu  the  mutations  of  service  should  reverse, 
as  it  afterwards  did,  his  and  their  positions. 

Colonel  Hardie  well  repaid  to  the  inspectiou  service  the 
preferment  it  had  given  him.  When  assailed,  as  it  subse- 
quently and  repeatedly  was,  both  in  and  out  of  the  army, 
his    historical  and  professional  studies  stood   it   in   good 


44  .TAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE. 

stead,  and  brought  to  its  defense  the  very  kind  of  weapons 
that  it  had  always  needed  and  which  few,  from  the  bent  of 
their  minds,  were  so  well  fitted  to  handle.  He  would  show 
to  disputants  or  critics  what  sudden  and  marked  changes 
were  wrought  in  the  discipline,  economy,  and  efficiency  of 
the  Revolutionary  army  through  the  labors  of  Baron 
Steuben  after  his  appointment,  at  the  urgent  request  of 
Washington,  as  Inspector  General  of  the  Continental  army, 
and  referring  to  the  elaborate  and  careful  provision  made 
in  all  European  armies  for  the  dignity,  power  and  efficiency 
of  the  inspection  department,  would  argue  as  to  the  exist- 
ence of  the  same  needs  in  our  own  military  system.  The 
time,  patience,  and  labor  spent  by  Colonel  Hardie,  during 
the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  on  objects  connected  with  the 
inspection  service  may,  perhaps,  justify  what  might  seem 
like  a  digression  if  it  did  not  tend  to  illustrate  that 
conscientiousness  and  industry  that  exert-d  themselves 
upon  every  object  deemed  useful  or  pregnant,  however 
lacking  in  the  conspicuous  interest  required  to  bring  the 
actor  into  notice. 

In  the  spring  of  18()")  Colonel  Hardie  was  brevetted  to 
the  rank  of  brigadier  general  upon  the  lecommendation 
of  Lieutenant  General  Grant,  and  was  subsequently 
advanced  to  the  rank  of  brevet  major  general. 

An  incident  of  General  Hardie's  service  in  the  War 
Department,  under  Mr.  Stanton,  that  gave  him  great  pain, 
was  the  publication  in  a  prominent  New  York  journal 
th:it    li:ul    :i    standini:-    <|uarrcl    with    the  Secretary,    of    a 


JAMES   ALLEN    HARDIE.  45 

somewhat  lengthy  aud  detailed  statement,  alleging  that 
Mr.  Stanton  had  interf'erred  with  the  religious  consolations 
of  the  unfortunate  Mrs.  Surratt,  after  her  conviction  aud 
sentence,  by  refusing  a  pass  to  her  spiritual  adviser  to  visit 
her,  unless  he  would  promise  to  be  silent  thenceforward 
with  regard  to  his  known  convictions  of  her  innocence  ; 
and  that  General  Hardie  was  made  the  bearer  of  the 
shameful  proposition.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  pub- 
lication was  a  scandalous  perversion  and  misconnection  of 
facts  and  occurrences  entirely  blameless  in  themselves, 
and  was  destitute  of  the  sanction  of  the  worthy  clergyman 
who  was  made,  by  a  false  suggestion,  to  stand  as  sponsor 
for  it.  Deeply  as  it  wounded  General  Hardie,  and  aggra- 
vated as  the  wound  was  by  the  wide  and  prolonged 
currency  given  to  the  story  by  the  press  at  large,  and  by 
the  political  uses  made  of  it,  he  would  have  borne  it  in 
silence,  had  he  alone  been  injured,  but  he  felt  so  pained 
and  indignant  at  the  baseless  attack  on  Mr.  Stanton, 
whose  first  knowledge  of  the  matter  actually  came  from 
the  slanderous  article  itself,  and  who  had  so  often,  in  other 
cases,  acted  the  very  reverse  of  the  manner  attributed  to 
him  in  the  article,  as  General  Hardie  well  knew,  that  he 
resorted  to  the  distasteful  means  of  publishing  a  denial  of 
the  story,  and  a  full  account  of  the  entirely  innocent 
circumstances  out  of  which  it  luid  been  constructed,  over 
his  own  signature.  This  he  did  much  more  for  the  vindi- 
cation of  his  superior  officer  than  himself,  but  he  had  his 
own  consolation  in  the  large  number  of  letters  he  received 


46  JAMES   ALLEN    HARDIE. 

fVoni  a  variety  of  persons  and  places,  some  reminding  him 
of  acts  he  had  done  that  might  well  be  set  circumstautlally 
against  those  he  was  now  accused  of  doing,  and  all  ex- 
pi-essiug  disbelief  that  he  had  done  anything  in  the  matter 
of  Mrs.  Surratt  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  a 
Christian  gentleman.  Some  friends  had  not  even  waited 
for  his  own  explanation,  but  had  themselves  undertaken 
his  defense  upon  their  knowledge  of  his  character.  One 
fact  that  scarcely  anybody  beyond  Mr.  Stanton  and  him- 
self knew,  was  that,  owing  to  his  reputation  as  a  devoted 
Catholic,  among  those  belonging  to  that  denomination, 
he  was  constantly  applied  to  in  behalf  of  the  spiritual 
members  and  establishments  of  that  church  in  the  South, 
who  hoped  to  escape  from  some  of  the  dangers  and  rigors 
entailed  upon  them  by  the  state  of  war  through  an 
influential  presentation  of  their  cases  at  Washington. 
General  Hardie,  from  both  conscientious  and  prudential 
motives,  rarely  acted  upon  such  cases  himself,  as  in  matters 
of  secular  or  non-Catholic  origin,  but  always  laid  them,  just 
as  presented  to  him,  before  the  Secretary  of  War,  whose 
patience  and  liberality  in  dealing  with  them  excited  the 
surprise  as  well  as  the  admiration  of  his  subordinate,  who 
was  always  prone  to  fear  that  he  was  wearing  out  his 
welcome  when  giving  the  least  trouble  to  anybody.  This 
almost  confidential  relation  between  the  two  officials  made 
the  assault  on  Mr.  Stanton,  which  has  been  mentioned, 
seem  doubly  grievous  to  his  assistant,  and  doubtless  nerved 
him  to  the  hateful   task   of  going  befoi'e  the  public  in  de- 


JAMES    ALLEX    ITARDIE.  47 

fense  of  their  characters.  Before  leaving  the  subject  it  may 
be  well,  in  illustration  of  the  nature  of  some  of  the  services 
that  General  Hardie,  in  the  manner  stated,  rendered  to 
members  of  his  church,  to  give  the  following  extracts  from 
letters  addressed  to  him  by  the  superiors  of  two  convents 
in  different  parts  of  the  country.  The  first  extract  is  as 
follows  : 

"  Our  hospital  was  restored  to  us  July  1  and  all  arrears  paid  in 
full.  For  this,  many  a  blessing  is  invoked  on  you  by  grateful 
hearts,  and  the  little  children  bless  the  distant  benefactor  whom 
they  maj'^  never  see,  but  whose  name  thej'  will  hold  in  benedic- 
tion." 

The  following  is  the  second  extract : 

"  Memory  will  have  failed  us  when  we  cease  to  be  grateful  for 
the  kind  and  generous  efforts  you  have  made  in  our  behalf.  *  *  * 
Kest  assured,  at  the  foot  of  the  altar  where  we  so  often  assemble, 
the  name  oftenest  on  our  lips,  in  petitioning  for  divine  graces  and 
blessings,  shall  be  that  of  our  kind  benefactor." 

In  the  fall  of  1866,  the  labor  of  disbanding  the  volunteer 
army  and  of  reorganizing  the  regular  establishment  having 
been  accomplished,  Secretary  Stanton  turned  his  attention 
to  the  arsenals,  for  the  purpose  of  determining  what  stores 
and  bui'ldiugs  to  retain,  what  to  .sell,  break  up,  or  other- 
wise dispose  of,  and  what  force  of  operatives  and  other 
employees  to  continue  in  .service.  In  order  to  accurately 
inform  himself  on  these  points  he  associated  General 
Hardie  with  an  artillery  officer  of  rank  and  reputation  in 
an  inspection  of  the  forts  and  arsenals  throughout  the 
country,  and  this  duty,  with  the  voluminous  reports  it  in- 


48  JAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE. 

volved,  occupied  him  for  nearly  six  mouths.  Meautime 
the  examiuatiou,  classificatiou,  aud  settlement  of  claims 
arising  out  of  the  war  and  the  rebellion  was  becoming  an 
onerous  and  important  branch  of  the  business  connected 
with  closing  up  the  war,  aud,  upon  his  return  to  Washing- 
ton, Geuei'al  Hardie  was  at  once  placed  on  this  service. 
He  was  appointed  the  agent  of  the  Government  before  the 
special  commission  appointed  to  audit  the  claim  of  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  for  arming  the  sea-coast  against  the 
threatened  raids  of  Confederate  cruisers,  and  was  next  sent 
to  Kansas  to  investigate  the  claims  of  her  citizens  for 
material,  supplies,  and  services  connected  with  the  defen- 
sive preparations  made  after  the  Quantrell  and  other  raids 
into  that  State.  This  investigation  was  a  model  of  indus- 
try, patience,  and  ingenuity.  Under  the  impulse  of  the 
fear  caused  by  the  Confederate  raids,  and  owing  to  the 
want  of  capable  aud  careful  othcers,  orders  had  been  given 
for  supplies  with  reckless  prodigality  as  to  quantity 
and  price;  and,  worse  still,  in  many  cases  vouchers 
acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the  goods  were  issued  when 
the  orders  were  given,  and  w  hen,  in  fact,  either  the  supplies 
were  sold  "  to  arrive,"  or  the  sellers  were  directed  to  keep 
them  till  wanted.  Consequently  the  vouchers  were  of 
little  use  as  evidence  of  facts,  and  it  became  necessary  to 
reconstruct  plans  and  estimates  of  the  various  barracks, 
stables,  storehouses,  and  hospitals  that  had  hi'eii  erected, 
l)ut  long  since  removed,  to  see  what  material  was  actually 
used,  to  examine  the  books  aud  papers  of  the  claimants  to 


JAMES  ALLEN    HARDIE  49 

get  at  their  actual  transactious,  aud  to  take  a  vast  number 
of  statements  and  depositions  of  informants  ami  witnesses. 
The  result  of  this  refining  process  was  that  the  amounts 
reported  by  General  Hardie  as  just  and  lawful  were  actu- 
ally paid,  regardless  of  the  vouchers;  though,  without 
this  separation  of  the  accounts  into  good,  bad,  and  doubt- 
ful, it  is  not  likely  that  any  settlement  could  or  would 
have  been  made  at  all.  Something  of  the  same  experience 
was  had,  at  later  periods  of  his  life,  with  the  Indian  war 
claims  of  Montana  and  Dakota  and  the  "Modoc  claims" 
in  Oregon,  all  of  which  were  audited  by  General  Hardie, 
under  various  acts  of  Congress. 

In  March,  1867,  General  Hardie  succeeded  the  late 
General  Canby  as  president  of  the  Special  Claims  Commis- 
sion created  in  the  War  Department,  aud  retained  that 
position  for  over  two  years,  serving,  also,  part  of  the  time, 
as  Inspector  General  on  the  staff  of  the  General  of  the 
Army,  and  being  sent,  in  that  capacity,  to  represent  the 
War  Department  at  the  councils  held  by  the  Indian  Peace 
Commissioners  with  the  hostile  bands  in  1867  and  1868. 
In  the  fall  of  1869,  he  went  to  Chicago  to  act  as  Inspector 
General  of  the  Military  Division  of  the  Missouri,  under 
Lieutenant  General  Sheridan,  and  began  that  series  of 
inspections  of  the  military  posts  and  establishments  which, 
with  the  addition  of  special  assignments,  finally  carried 
him  to  nearly  every  post  and  depot  in  the  Indian  country 
and  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  which  did  not  end  till  1875. 
He  was  stationed  at  Chicago  at  the  time  of  the  disastrous 
9 


50  JAMES    ALLEN   HARDIE. 

fire  of  I'STl,  and  being  assigned  to  the  duty  of  receiving 
and  issuing  the  relief  supplies  so  promptly  furnished  by 
the  Government,  won  golden  opinions  from  the  citizens  by 
the  manner  in  which  he  performed  that  duty,  and  many 
other  services  of  a  kindred  nature,  during  that  time  of 
distress  and  disorganization. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  CEREMONIES. 

Upon  the  completion  of  an  especially  arduous  inspection 
tour  in  1875,  involving  most  of  the  discomforts  and  some 
of  the  dangers  of  an  actual  campaign,  in  Arizona  and 
New  Mexico,  General  Hardie  was  granted  a  respite  from 
field  labor,  and  an  opportunity  of  completing  his  reports 
and  spending  some  time  with  his  family  at  a  station  of  his 
own  choosing.  He  took  up  his  residence  at  Philadelphia, 
and  the  last  summer  of  his  life — being  that  of  1876 — was 
spent  at  Haddonliekl,  a  pretty  village  near  that  city.  His 
letters  from  this  place  to  his  intimate  friends  were  lively 
and  interesting,  and  l)ore  evidence  of  the  peace  and 
domestic  enjoyment  he  appreciated  so  highly  after  his 
nomadic  life  of  several  years.  In  July  he  was  called  to 
Washington,  and  upon  reporting,  was  ordered  to  make  a 
complete  military  inspection  of  the  troops  and  posts  in  the 
Southern*  States,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  War 
Department  to  consult  economy  of  expenditure  and  the 
capabilities  of  company  officers  in  the  movements  and 
distributions  about  to  be  ordered  by  the  political  depart- 
ment of  the  Government.  It  was  on  this  trip  that  he  is 
thought  to  have  caught  the  malarial  taint  that  was  the 
predisposing   cause   of  his   subsequent   fatal   illness.      In 


52  .Ix^MES   ALLEN    HARDIE. 

September,  187(),  after  his  southeru  inspection  was  com- 
pleted, he  was  ordered  on  duty  in  the  Inspector  General's 
Bureau  at  Washington,  and,  leaving  his  family  to  follow 
later  in  the  fall,  reported  at  once  and  entered  upon  service. 
He  soon  developed  symptoms  of  jaundice,  but  supposing 
them  to  be  the  outcome  of  the  malaria  taken  in  the  system 
on  his  southern  trip,  and  which  the  frosts  of  the  approach- 
ing winter  would  destroy,  he  resisted  the  advice  of  friends 
to  resort  to  medical  assistance,  and  struggled  along,  un- 
complaining, and  deprecating  the  anxiety  of  his  family, 
who  had  joined  him.  till  towards  the  end  of  the  first  week 
in  December,  when  he  took  to  his  bed  and  a  physician  was 
sent  ibr  by  the  family  without  informing  him.  The  de- 
rangement of  the  liver  had  become  so  acute  that  the 
physician  at  once  detected  the  hopelessness  of  the  case, 
but  miscalculating  by  some  days  the  duration  of  life,  pre- 
served silence  for  the  time  being. 

On  Wednesday,  December  13,  the  patient  was  cheerful, 
interested  in  the  affairs  of  life,  and  active  enough  to  read 
the  newspapers  himself  The  next  day,  though  weaker 
and  occasionally  delirious,  his  condition  was  not  alarming, 
and  the  physician,  at  his  late  evening  call,  found  nothing 
to  excite  apprehension  of  an  unquiet"  night.  But  soon  after 
the  physician  luul  left,  Mrs.  Hardie,  who  was  in  personal 
attendance  in  the  sick-room,  noticed  an  unusual  disturb- 
ance on  the  part  of  tlie  patient,  who  was  moving  uneasily 
and  moaning,  and  almost  as  soon  as  she  reached  the  bed- 
side, and  before  Mr.  Connolly,  an  old  soldier  of  the  Third 


JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE.  53 

Artillery,  and  for  many  years  a  faithful  subordiuate  and  . 
companion  of  the  General's,  could  fairly  get  in  from  the 
adjoining  room,  the  husband  of  the  one  and  old  com- 
mander of  the  other  was  dead.  There  is  no  reason  to 
believe  that  he  anticipated  a  fatal  result  to  his  illness,  and 
at  the  moment  of  death  he  was  unconscious.  But  from 
the  days  of  his  youth  upwards,  and  especially  during  the 
last  thirty  years  of  his  life,  he  had  so  lived  that  let  death 
come  when  and  how  it  might,  it  would  not  find  him  unpre- 
pared. On  his  behalf,  therefore,  the  deprivation  of  time 
and  knowledge  is  no  source  of  regret — it  is  only  they 
whose  bereavement  might  have  been  softened  by  antici- 
pation and  the  presence  of  sustaining  friends  that  demand 
our  sympathies  for  an  irreparable  and  untimely  loss. 

The  funeral  services  took  place  at  St.  Matthew's  Church, 
which  General  Hardie  and  family  always  attended  when 
resident  at  Washington,  on  Sunday  afternoon  the  17th  of 
December,  and  were  as  quiet,  simple  and  sincere,  as  the 
man  himself.  The  military  escort,  suitable  to  the  rank  of 
the  deceased,  which  General  Sherman  kindly  offered,  was 
declined,  and  the  only  military  feature  of  the  funeral  pro- 
cession *was  the  detachment  of  eight  artillerymen  that 
served  as  coifin-bearers  at  the  house,  the  church,  and  the 
cemetery  in  which  the  remains  were  temporarily  deposited, 
to  be  thereafter  removed  to  the  family  burial  place  near 
New  York.  Eight  pall-bearers  were  selected  from  the 
army  and  navy  officers  resident  at  Washington,  at  the 
head  of  whom  stood  two  devoted   and   almost   life-long 


54  JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

friends,  General  Sherman  and  Adjutant  (General  Townseud. 
All  that  savored  of  display  was  excluded  from  the  last, 
sad  offices,  and  none  but  sincere  mourners  found  induce- 
ment to  share  in  the  final  duties  to  the  earthly  remains  of 
the  dead.  That  these  were  numerous  is  the  greater  tribute 
to  the  virtues  of  him  who  alone  was  tranquil  throughout 
the  trying  scene,  nor  has  absence  prevented  others,  as 
sincere  and  devoted,  fi*om  giving  fit  expression  to  their 
sorrow  for  him  who  has  departed,  and  sympathy  with 
those  who  remain.  Such  consolations  as  are  possible  to  a 
stricken  household,  this  household  have  in  abundance — 
generous  tributes  to  virtues  and  talents  which,  however 
modestly  exercised,  were  yet  not  hid — the  silent  contem- 
plation, as  well  as  the  discussion  in  the  broken  family 
circle,  of  those  acts  and  traits  that  made  up  the  sum  of  a 
life  so  well  spent  as  almost  to  deserve  the  appellation  of 
perfect,  and  the  daily  resolutions  and  efforts  of  those  to 
whom  he  has  left  the  precious  legacy  of  a  "  good  name 
among  men  "  to  so  order  their  lives  as  that  they  may  not 
seem  unworthy  beside  his  own. 

Upon  earlier  pages  of  this  volume  have  been  spread  the 
testimonials  of  distinguished  officers  to  the  merits  and 
talents  of  the  then  Colonel  Hardie,  when  it  was  thought 
by  his  immediate  superiors  that  the  time  had  come  when 
be  should  be  advanced  to  higher  rank  and  a  larger  field 
of  action.  His  death  gave  one  more,  and  probably  the 
last  occasion  lui-  the  t'ormal  expression  l)y  men  eminent  in 
his  own  profession,  of  thiir  view  of  his  military  character, 


JAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE.  55 

and  as  a  period  of  fourteeu  years  had  intervened  between 
the  two  occasions,  it  cannot  be  otherwise  than  interesting 
to  quote  from  these  hiter  testimonials  in  the  same  manner 
as  before.     The  following  extracts  are  therefore  given  : 

"Our  acquaintance  began  in  1839,  at  West  Toint,  where  we 
were  both  cadets,  and  from  that  date  to  the  daj-  of  his  death, 
with  brief  intervals,  we  served  in  the  same  general  sphere  of 
action,  *  *  *  so  that  I  think  I  can  bear  the  fullest  testimony 
to  his  worth  as  a  military  officer  and  gentleman.  He  was  always 
noted  for  his  zeal  and  marked  intelligence,  self-denying  and 
laborious." — General  Sherman. 

"  General  Hardie's  whole  history,  from  his  entry  into  the  army 
in  1843,  until  his  death,  a  period  of  over  thirty-three  years,  shows 
a  conscientious  devotion  to  every  duty  to  which  he  was   assigned. 

*  *  *  His  death  was  a  great  loss  to  the  Government,  as  no  one 
in  its  service  was  more  faithful  and  honest." — Lieut  General 
Shekidan. 

"  He  was  an  officer  of  marked  ability,  and  rendered  most 
valuable  service.  Not  only  was  he  able,  but  he  was  also  most 
laborious,  attentive  and  indefatigable."— Major  General  Mc- 
Clellan. 

"  Daring  his  service  of  more  than  thirty  years  he  took  an  hon- 
orable  part  in  the  Mexican  war,  in  operations  against  hostile 
Indians  in  Washington  and  Oregon  Territories,  and  in  our  late 
civil  war.  *  *  *  He  was  entrusted  with  many  responsible  and 
important  duties,  which  he  performed  with  intelligence,  zeal,  and 
fidelity.  He  was  an  officer  of  irreproachable  character  and  con- 
duct."—Major  General  Hancock. 

"  My  acquaintance  with  General  Hardie  commenced  when  he 
joined  the  First  Artillery  at  Houlton,  Maine,  July  '43,  and  con- 
Linued  throughout  his  lifetime.  *  *  *  I  soon  became  a  great 
admirer  of  his  from  his  many  noble  qualities.  I  always  found 
him  honorable,  genei-ous,  brave,  and  devoted  to  his  profession.     * 

*  *    I  question  if  the  Government  ever  had  in  its  service  a  more 
conscientious  and  devoted  servant." — Major  General  Hooker. 


56  JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

"  General  Hardic's  service  was  a  jjoculiarly  honorable  and 
meritorious  one,  without  being  of  tlu;  kind  which  brought  his 
name  prominently  before  the  public.  *  *  *  In  the  first  battle 
of  Fredericksburg,  December  13,  I8*>2,  General  Burn-ide  sent 
him  to  be  near  me  during  the  day,  and  I  can  vouch  fur  the  fact 
that  no  one  excelled  him  during  that  fearful  fight  in  bravery  and 
coolness.  *  *  *  He  was  as  honest  and  conscientious  an  oflicer 
as  ever  held  a  commission  He  was  a  master  of  the  military  pro- 
fession, and  as  well  versed  in  military  law  and  in  the  innumerable 
details  of  an  officer's  duties  as  any  man  in  service.  He  brought 
all  his  ability  to  bear  in  the  transaction  of  the  Government  busi- 
ness, and  his  example  should  be  commended  to  young  officers." — 
Major  General  Franklin. 

"  I  knew  him  well  from  early  in  1862,  when  he  was  on  duty  in 
the  Adjutant  General's  Department,  at  the  headquarters  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  where  1  witnessed  the  faithful,  conscien- 
tious and  efficient  manner  in  which  he  performed  the  duties  of 
his  position,  not  only  acceptably  to  the  commander  of  the  army 
and  chief  of  his  own  department,  but  to  everj'  one  who  had 
dealings  at  the  headquarters,  thus  winning  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  all.  And  this  same  faithful,  patient  and  efficient 
service  he  continued  to  the  last." — Major  General  Humphreys. 

"  General  Hardie's  death  has  deprived  the  army  of  an  officer 
of  large  experience,  thorough  knowledge  of  our  military  insti- 
tutions, and  of  the  persormel  of  the  army,  and  of  a  gentleman 
who  will  be  remembered  with  honor  and  affection  at  almost  every 
military  post  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific."— Quartermaster 
General  Meigs. 


CHAPTER  X. 


PERSONAL   TRA.ITS    AND   CHARACTERISTICS. 

la  person,  General  Hardie  was  of  prepossessing  and 
rather  distinguished  appearance,  of  medium  height  and 
build,  and,  in  later  years,  with  the  stoop  of  the  scholar  and 
sedentary.  This  came  naturally,  for  the  pen  was  seldom 
out  of  his  hand  except  upon  compulsion  of  duty  or  cir- 
cumstance, or  in  exchange  for  a  book.  His  countenance 
was  animated  and  pleasing,  and  a  slight  setting  forward  of 
the  ears,  and  a  noticeable  twinkling  of  the  eyes,  gave  his 
face  a  humorous  expression  in  keeping  with  his  life-long 
propensity  to  see  the  amusing  side  of  everything.  This 
propensity,  though  properly  kept  in  bounds  by  the  force  of 
his  intellectual  and  moral  character,  was  to  a  large  extent 
the  inducing  cause  of  that  cheerful  and  elastic  tempera- 
ment that  made  him  so  welcome  and  helpful  a  companion 
amid  difficult  and  discouraging  surroundings.  He  had  a 
broad,  intellectual  forehead,  and  this,  with  the  flowing 
military  whiskers  and  moustache  that  he  habitually  wore, 
happily  relieved  and  carried  off  a  tendency  of  his  features 
towards  an  overfull  and  fleshly  look,  at  variance  with  his 
habits  and  disposition.  His  eyes  were  gray  and  deeply 
set,  his  nose  inclined  to  the  aquiline  cast,  his  mouth  was 
firm  and  his  chin   unusually  broad,  as  well  as  full.     His 

hair  was  light  brown   and   his   complexion  florid,  and  he 
10 


58  JAMES   ALLEN    HARDIE. 

looked  the  Scotchman  that  he  was  by  descent  on  the  pater- 
nal side.  His  manner  was  quiet,  graceful,  and  unstudied. 
He  was  the  most  accessible  of  men  and  always  interesting 
in  conversation,  though  not  stilted  on  the  one  hand  or 
flippant  on  the  other.  He  neither  paraded  his  knowledge, 
nor  drew  attention  to  it  by  affecting  to  be  ignorant.  Only 
the  studious  would  know  him  for  a  student  and  the  learned 
for  a  scholar.  That  he  was  a  gentleman  in  the  nobler 
sense  of  that  term  a  very  short  acquaintance  would  reveal, 
nor  was  he  lacking  in  anything  that  pertained  to  the  out- 
ward demeanor  and  appearance  of  one;  yet  so  plain  was 
he  in  dress  and  bearing  that  it  would  require  more  than 
one  look  at  him  to  fix  his  profession  or  calling,  or  his  place 
in  society.  The  loftiness  of  his  moral  sentiments  he  could 
not  have  concealed  if  he  would,  for  they  were  his  work-a- 
day  garments  and  not  a  mere  holiday  suit ;  but  so  free 
were  his  casual  utterances  from  dogmatism  that  he  might 
as  readily  be  taken  by  strangers  for  a  utilitarian  as  the 
devout  religionist  that  he  was  in  profession  and  practice. 
Though  sincerity  was  a  guiding  principle  of  his  intercourse 
with  his  fellow-men,  the  unconscious  mobility  of  his  de- 
meanor was  such  that  he  always  seemed  at  home  in  what- 
ever society  chance  had  for  the  moment  placed  him,  and 
his  disregard  of  small  discomforts  and  vexations,  and  his 
sociability  with  all  who  observed  the  cardinal  forms  of 
propriety,  no  matter  who  and  what  they  were,  made  him 
a  delightful  and  interesting  fell iw -traveller.  In  all  situa- 
tions, his  manner  and  conversation  were  so  considerate  and 


JAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE.  59 

helpful  that,  though  he  bore  unwelcome  news,  the  unhappy 
subject  of  his  errand  was  glad,  at  least,  that  he  had  come. 
Those  duties  of  benevolence  and  charity  that  he  executed 
with  the  fidelity  of  a  religious  devotee  he  was  mindful  of 
even  in  his  speech,  and  no  man  ever  lived  closer  up  to  the 
benevolent  axiom  : 

"  Count  that  day  lost,  whose  low,  declining  sun 
Views,  from  thy  hand,  no  generous  action  done  !  " 

His  early  ideas  as  to  the  original  nobility,  if  not  actual 
divinity,  of  human  nature  colored  his  entire  intercourse 
with  his  fellow-man,  and  made  courtesy  not  only  a  pleasing 
form,  but  a  sacred  duty  to  all,  however  humble,  or,  per- 
chance, erring.  Indeed,  towards  human  failings  of  every 
kind  he  was  uniformly  patient  and  charitable,  but  for 
meanness  of  character,  or  any  form  of  wilful,  deliberate 
depravity,  had  that  open  and  hearty  detestation  which  was 
but  one  proof  among  many  of  his  possession  of  the  strong, 
Anglo-Saxon  common  sense  that  gives  full  play  to  benevo- 
lence, while  keeping  a  firm  hand  upon  any  tendency  to 
vapid  sentimentalisra. 

In  m&tters  of  taste,  General  Hardie  was  as  robust  as  his 
way  of  life,  his  lines  of  study  and  investigation,  and  his 
intellectual  bias  would  naturally  make  him.  Under  some 
circumstances  he  might  have  grown  austere,  but  from 
austerity  he  was  saved  by  his  lively  interest  in  human  life 
and  toil,  and  by  that  keen  sense  of  humor  to  which  refer- 
ence   has    been     made    already.      Although    he    readily 


60  JAMES   ALLEN   HARDIE. 

adapted  himself  to  his  surroundings,  and  could  rough  it 
with  the  best,  and  be  the  most  cheerful  of  men  under  the 
most  discouraging  circumstances,  he  relished  highly  the 
quietness,  grace,  and  dignity  that  always  mark  the  pres- 
ence of  true  gentility,  and  it  was  when  enjoying  these  that 
he  himself  was  at  his  best.  In  all  matters  that  fall  within 
the  cognizance  of  taste  his  intuitions  were  wonderfully 
correct,  and  despite  his  isolation  from  the  centres  of  civil- 
ization during  the  larger  part  of  his  life,  and  his  almost 
incessant  employment,  he  contrived  to  keep  himself  abreast 
of  current  knowledge  throughout  the  domains  of  culture. 
But,  then,  he  wasted  no  time  upon  inferior  products  of 
either  art  or  literature,  and  had  little  patience  with  those 
who  did.  With  the  treasures  of  human  genius  over- 
abundant, he  could  not  brook  the  encouragement  given  to 
the  heaping  up  of  dross.  Among  the  gentler  arts  he 
loved  music  best,  and  in  music  his  taste  was  for  the  grand 
and  solemn  rather  than  the  sweet  and  melodious.  It  was 
the  same  with  poetry,  to  the  reading  of  which  he  was  not 
much  given,  though  he  had  a  fair  acquaintance  with  and 
earnest  appreciation  of  the  higher  j)oets  and  their  loftier 
themes.  Only  once  in  his  life  did  he  ever  copy  verses,  and 
they  were  some  that  fell  under  his  notice  but  a  few  months 
before  his  death,  and  at  a  time  when  his  thoughts  were 
turned  towards  the  theme  of  mortality  by  the  sudden  tak- 
ing-off  of  a  intimate  friend,  and  a  marked  decline  in  his 
own  health  that  proved  to  be  the  forerunner  of  his  fatal 
disorder.     The   copy  so  made  he  sent   to   a  sister  of  his 


JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE.  61 

deceased  friend  with  a  letter  of  condolence,  and  it  is 
characteristic  of  his  antipathy  to  sentimentalism  in  general 
that  he  justifies  the  act  of  sending  the  verses,  not  only  by 
hoping  that  they  might  have  their  little  influence  upon  a 
sorrowing  mind,  but  by  calling  attention  to  the  solid 
earnestness  and  the  real  philosophy  that  set  oft'  the  mere 
beauty  of  expression  and  balance  the  poetic  aftlatus. 
These  verses,  which  were  published  in  1870,  in  the  London 
Magazine,  "  St.  Pauls,"  with  only  the  initials  J.  P.  to 
indicate  the  author,  are  appended. 

UNTIL  THE  DAY  BREAK. 

Will  it  pain  me  then  forever, 

Will  it  leave  me  happy  never, 
This  weary,  weary,  gnawing  of  the  old,  dull  pain  ? 

Will  the  sweet,  yet  bitter  yearning, 

That  at  my  heart  is  burning, 
Throb  on  and  on  forever,  and  forever  be  in  vain  ? 

O  weary,  weary  longing  ! 

O  sad,  sweet  memories  thronging 
From  the  sunset-lighted  woodlands  of  the  dear  and  holy  past ! 

O  hope  and  faith  undying  ! 

Shall  I  never  cease  from  sighing  V 
Must  my  lot  among  the  shadows  forevermore  be  cast  ? 

Shall  I  never  see  the  glory 

That  the  Christ-knight  of  old  story. 
Sir  Galahad,  my  hero,  saw  folded  round  his  sleep  ? 

The  full  completed  beauty 

With  which  God  gilds  dull  duty 
For  hearts  that  burn  towards  heaven  from  the  everlasting  deep, 

From  the  conflict  ceasing  never, 
From  the  toil  increasing  ever, 


S2  JAMES   ALLEN    HARDIE. 

From  the  hard  and  bitter  battle  with  the  cold  and  callous  world  ? 

Will  the  sky  grow  never  clearer  ? 

Will  the  hills  draw  never  nearer 
Where  the  golden  city  glitters,  in  its  rainbow  mists  impcarled  ? 

Ah  me  !  that  golden  city  ! 

Can  God,  then,  have  no  pity  V 
I  have  sought  it  with  such  yearning  for  so  many  bitter  years  ! 

And  yet  the  hills'  blue  glimmer. 

And  the  portals'  golden  shimmer, 
Fade  ever  with  the  evening,  and  the  distance  never  nears  ! 

O  weary,  weary  living  ! 

O  foemen  unforgiving  ! 
O  enemies  that  meet  me  on  the  earth  and  in  the  air  ! 

O  flesh,  that  clogs  my  yearning  ! 

O  weakness,  aye  returning  ! 
Will  ye  never  cease  to  trouble  ?     Will  ye  never,  never,  spare  ? 

Will  my  soul  grow  never  purer  ? 

AVill  my  hope  be  never  surer  ? 
Will  the  mist-wreaths  and  the  cliff-gates  from  my  path  be  never 
rolled  ? 

Shall  I  never,  never  win  it. 

That  last  ecstatic  minute, 
When  the  journey's  guerdon  waits  me  behind  the  hills  of  gold  ? 

Alas  !  the  clouds  grow  darker, 

And  the  hills  loom  ever  starker 
Across  the  leaden  mist-screen  of  the  heavens,  dull  and  gray  ! 

— Thou  must  learn  to  bear  thy  burden, 

Thou  must  wait  to  win  thy  guerdon. 
Until  the  daybreak  cometh,  and  the  shadows  flee  away  ! 

In  his  habits,  General  Hardie  was  plain,  frugal,  and 
remarkably  industrious.  His  hand  and  brain  were  forever 
l)usy,  and  recreation  meant  not  repose,  but  change  of 
employment.     He  was  a  fluent  writer,  as  well  as  a  prolific 


JAMES   ALLEN  HARDIE.  63 

one,  and  besides  the  ease  and  directness  of  his  style,  there 
were  both  a  quaintness  and  liveliness  of  expression  that 
made  his  letters  always  interesting  to  the  reader.  Exigen- 
cies of  time  and  space  forbid  an  effort  to  collect  for 
publication  large  selections  from  his  correspondence,  but 
the  following  are  given, — the  first  as  illustrating  the 
manner  in  which  he  met  the  difficulty  of  expressing 
heartfelt  sympathy  for  a  bereaved  household  in  natural 
and  sincere  language  ;  and  the  second  as  giving  his  views 
concerning  that  awful  change  in  his  own  state  of  existence 
that  was  so  soon  to  overtake  him. 

To   the   mother   of  the   friend    whose   death    has  been 
alluded  to,  he  writes  in  these  terms  : 

"  I  know  how  very  empty  are  words  of  human  consolation  in 
a  trial  such  as  yours.  But,  then,  1  want  to  express  to  you  my 
deep  sorrow  that  this  bereavement  has  been  sent  to  you,  so  unan- 
ticipated, and  in  the  order  of  nature  a  calamity  it  would  not 
have  been  expected  to  call  on  you  to  encounter.  But  your  son — 
it  should  make  you  proud,  even  in  the  depth  of  your  atHiction 
to  think  of — was  eminent  in  his  vocation,  distinguished  among 
men,  pure  in  his  conscience  ;  and  he  maintained,  from  first  to 
last,  too,  the  elevated  state  of  a  true  gentleman.  That  such  a 
useful  and  honorable  man  should  be  called  early  from  his  earthly 
sphere  to  the  society  of  the  brightest  and  best  of  our  humanity, 
who  are  safe  everlastingly  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  happiness  of 
which,  it  is  said,  that  we  cannot  conceive  of  its  height  ;  that  a 
man  so  much  beloved  by  mother  and  brothers  and  sisters  and 
wife  and  children,  should  have  so  soon  gone  before,  all  is  a 
mystery  that  human  respect  and  aflfection  cannot  comprehend. 
But,  you  know,  the  issues  of  life  and  death  are  in  the  hands  of 
the  Creator — when  He  calls,  we  must  go.  At  the  best,  a  few 
years  or  a  few  days  are  very  little  to  us,  and  we  may  find  repose 


64  JAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE. 

in  the  thought  that  we  get  to  the  end.     If  we  believe   that  there 
is  an  end  worth  having,  surely  it  is  the  better  for  us. 

"  I  do  not  for  a  moment  suppose  that  I  can  measure  the  extent 
of  your  affliction.  But  I  try  to  think  it  out.  I  have  had  my 
experiences.  It  is  utterly  usele.ss  to  try  to  stop  the  flood  of  grief 
by  anything  I  could  say  or  do  ;  I  can  only  offer  you  the  expression 
of  my  profound  sympathies,  and  through  you,  to  all  who  know 
you  as  their  centre.  *  *  I  am  sure  that  the  beneficent  Creator 
means  this  event  for  good.  That  you  can  see  it,  and  that  He  will 
give  you  and  yours  strength  and  consolation  is  my  .sincere  wish." 

Of  his  own  state  of  iniud  towards  death,  he  thus  speaks 
in  the  letter  accompanying  the  verses  lately  quoted  : 

"  I  have  a  very  keen  desire  to  live,  and  1  am  certainly  grateful 
that  I  am  as  well  as  I  am.  But  I  have  been  so  often  and  so  close 
up  to  death,  and  have  had  to  face  it,  that  I  don't  think  it  can  ever 
alarm  me.  I  have  been  looked  at  by  a  physician,  indeed,  and 
told  I  must  die.  Then  shot  and  shell  kill  people,  and  I  have  had 
to  contemplate  my  almost  certain  destruction  from  these. 

"  Not  that  I  feel  that  I  am  better  than  the  rest.  0  no  !  And 
life  has  always  been  sweet  tt)  me.  There's  nothing  morbid  about 
me.  I  have  the  happiest  home;  moderate  comfort;  means  not 
large,  but  sufficient  for  the  day.  Yet,  when  the  time  comes,  I 
will  try  to  have  my  knapsack  packed  and  to  march  off  under  my 
orders.  Surely,  I  shall  have  no  chance  for  a  good  post  in  the 
"  ewigkeit  "  but  in  my  share  in  the  liedeemer's  wonderful  scheme 
of  humanity's  redemption  ;  yet,  surely,  I  will  trust  my  luck. 

"  Now,  this  dread  idea  of  death — an  event  which,  as  a  fact,  is 
recognized  as  certain  by  people,  but  hardly  ever  realized — sets  us 
all  astray.  But  if  Christianity  amounts  to  "  a  row  of  pins,"  why 
shouldn't  we  want  to  go  to  a  place  where  we  are  better  off  than 
we  are  here,  when  we  have  got  through  our  task  here  ?  Is 
Christianity  a  failure?     To  us? 

"  This  is  a  life  of  trouble,  anyway,  sind  we  have  to  stand  trouble 
to  the  end.  1  just  nnw  feel,  in  these  days  of  accusation,  when 
every  black nuiiler  can  assail  one,  that  m_y  trust  in  the  future  is  a 
happier  foundation   for  a    reasonable  condition   of  comfort    than 


JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE.  65 

my  confidence  in  the  prespnt.     I  think,  even,  I  would  like  to  get 
out."     *     *     * 

In  his  public  correspondence  he  was  not  always  so  plain 
and  felicitous  as  in  his  private  writings.     He  seemed  appre- 
hensive that  words  used  by  him  in  one  sense  might  be  taken 
in  another,  or  inferences  drawn  from  them  that  he  had  no 
thought  of  suggesting,  and  that  somebody  might  be  pained 
or  prejudiced  thereby  without  his  intending  it  in  the  least; 
hence,  in   the  effort  to   make  his  phrases  and   sentences 
absolutely  unmistakable  and  innocuous,  he  would  change 
and  refine  them  till  their  pith  and  point  were  oft-times 
gone.     Still,  this  dilution  of  the  style,  when  it  occurred, 
never  extended  to  the  matter  itself,  and  his  official  papers 
were  always  models  in  the  sense  of  exhibiting  masterly 
knowledge  of  the  subjects  to  which  they  related,  and  clear 
conceptions  of  the  relations  of  cause  and  effect  as  con- 
nected with  them.     Where,  too,  the  topics  discussed  were 
such  as  gave  no  occasion  for  such  fears  as  just  described, 
the  style  was  as  easy,  direct,  and  flowing  as  the  most  hyper- 
critical taste  could  desire.     This  literary  blemish,  if  it  may 
rightly  be  so  called,  was  due  to  the  reflex  action  of  his 
own  super-sensitive  mind,  which   made  him   so  quick  to 
feel  criticism   or  reproach,  that  an   unguarded    word   or 
gesture  from  a  superior,  or  one  of  any  rank  whom  he  held 
in  esteem,  threw  him  at  once  off  the  balance  established 
by  his  even,  cheerful  temper,  and   made   him    wretched. 
Closely  connected  with  this  delicate  trait  of  character  was 
the  scrupulous  and  sincere  respect  that  he  always  paid  to 
11 


66  JAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE. 

authority  of  any  grade  or  form.  He  often  lamented  the 
decline  of  authority,  not  only  iu  matters  of  faith,  but 
matters  of  government  also,  and  feared  that  it  was  loosen- 
ing the  bonds  of  society  as  well  as  religion.  He  contended 
that  it  was  better  for  men  to  sometimes  bestow  their  allegi- 
ance unwisely  than  to  lose  the  habit  of  allegiance  altogether. 
General  Hardie  was  endowed  by  nature  with  rare  intel- 
lectual powers,  which  he  improved  by  sedulous  cultivation 
all  his  life.  His  knowledge  was  not  only  extensive,  but 
always  solid,  and,  in  respect  to  those  subjects  in  which  he 
took  a  professional  or  personal  interest,  usually  profound. 
His  memory,  though  not  phenomenal,  was  good,  and  he 
possessed  the  higher  faculty  of  so  applying  his  reason  to 
the  analysis  and  concentration  of  whatever  came  within 
the  range  of  his  observation  or  hearing,  as  to  have  the 
virtual  command,  at  any  moment,  of  all  he  ever  knew 
upon  a  given  subject.  Indeed,  it  was  a  frequent  experience 
to  find  himself  so  embarrassed  with  material  for  argument 
or  illustration,  drawn  from  memory,  or  gleaned  by  his 
wonderful  industry  in  research  and  accumulation,  as  to  be 
unable  to  use  it  all  within  the  limits  of  the  topic  in  hand. 
Hence  his  writings  were  never  padded  with  empty  words, 
even  if  otherwise  defective.  With  regard  to  the  art  of 
reasoning,  his  preference  was  for  the  synthetical  over  the 
analytical  method,  and  he  often  remarked  that  the  syn- 
thetical was  the  method  of  great  intellects  and  great  results, 
while  the  analytical  was  the  method  of  plodding,  if  useful, 
minds.     His  mental  bias  was  realistic  rather  than  imagin- 


JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE.  67 

ative,  and  hi?;  dogged  conservatism  on  all  matters  connected 
with  the  problems  of  human  life  was  little  lesss  than 
maddening  to  enthusiasts  and  reformers  generally.  He 
contended,  with  respect  to  the  human  mind  and  conscience, 
that  mankind  would  continue  to  be  impelled  bv  the  same 
desires,  restrained  by  the  same  fears,  and  controlled  by 
the  same  agencies  as  of  old,  modified  only  in  degree  and 
not  in  kind,  or  in  form  and  not  in  substance,  and  that  the 
growth  and  spread  of  religious  infidelity  was  dangerous  to 
the  body  politic,  in  undermining  the  ancient  foundations 
of  society  without  putting  anything  solid  and  adaptable 
in  their  places.  He  had  no  faith  in  the  earthly  millenium 
which  so  many  anticipate  as  the  ultimate,  occult  conse- 
quence of  the  vast  intellectual  movements  now  in  progress, 
and  though  he  kept  himself  in  line  with  the  scientists  in 
the  onward  march  of  their  methods  and  discoveries,  he 
declined  to  take  part  in  the  projection  of  the  scientific 
mind  beyond  the  visible  and  firm  ground  of  fact.  His 
commentary  upon  the  famous  Belfast  address  of  Professor 
Tyndall  was  that  when  it  came  to  going  beyond  demon- 
strative knowledge  and  taking  to  faith,  he  preferred  the 
old  faith,  which,  apart  from  the  respect  due  to  its  age, 
had  more  of  hope  and  consolation  in  it  for  human  kind 
than  anything  he  had  been  able  to  discern  in  the  newly- 
evolved  "  scientific  creeds."  As  illustrative  of  his 
sympathy  for  human  life  as  it  is,  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
his  interest  in  scientific  progress  was  always  most  active 
with   regard  to  inventions   and  discoveries  calculated  to 


68  JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

ameliorate  the  lot  of  man  in  his  earthly  state,  as  we  now 
know  it,  and  he  often  spoke  of  the  probability  of  the 
electric  force  proving  to  be  the  beneficieut  agent  of  the 
near  future  for  lightening  the  toils  and  multiplying  the 
physical  blessings  of  mankind.  An  amusing  instance  of 
his  persistency  in  taking  an  earthly  view  of  human 
motives  is  connected  with  the  secession  of  the  once  famous 
Perfe  Hyacinth,  from  the  Catholic  church.  To  a  friend 
who  sought  to  obtain  his  view  of  the  origin  and  result  of 
what  was  then  the  nine  days'  wonder  of  the  secular  as  well 
as  the  religious  world,  he  made  answer  in  about  the 
following  words  :  "  The  explanation  is  easy  enough.  It 
has  happened  with  the  pere  as  with  others  of  his  kind 
before  him.  There  is  a  woman  in  the  case.  He  wants  to 
marry,  and  is  raising  a  dust  of  controversy  to  cover  his 
real  motive.  He'll  get  married,  and  that  will  be  the  end 
of  him  and  his  new  church."  From  this  purely  human 
and  abased  view  of  the  matter  he  refused  to  be  moved,  nor 
would  he  discuss  the  subject  further,  and  so  soon  did  the 
perfe  turn  himself  into  a  husband,  and  his  critic  into  a 
prophet,  that  the  trouble  of  refusing  to  talk  about  the 
matter  was  soon  spared  to  the  latter. 

Two  qualities  of  General  Hardie's  mind  deserve  some 
notice,  as  they  were  chiefly  instrumental,  it  is  believed,  in 
preventing  him  from  reaching  to  that  degree  of  eminence 
outside  the  ranks  of  his  own  profession  that  his  character 
and  talent  earned  for  him  within  it.  The  first  was  a  shy- 
ness or  self-distrust,  that  would  not  only  have  restrained 


JAMES  ALLEN   HARDIE,  69 

him  from  pushing  himself  into  notice  in  any  immodest  or 
unduly  selfish  manner  in  the  absence  of  any  higher  re- 
straint, but  which  kept  him  back  from  that  degree  of  self- 
seeking  which  is  universally  regarded  as  natural  and  proper 
when  both  the  objects  and  the  means  pursued  are  honor- 
able. Except  where  his  professional  or  personal  reputation 
was  concerned,  he  was  not  a  self-regarding  man,  but 
seemed  always  content  to  do  his  whole  duty  in  whatever 
station  he  might  be  called  to  fill,  and,  having  thus  satisfied 
his  conscience,  to  leave  all  else  to  Providence  and  those  set 
over  him  in  authority.  Such  preferment  as  he  got  usually  . 
came  to  him  unsolicited  and  unexpected,  and  there  are 
instances  in  his  career  where  he  retired,  or  attempted  to 
retire,  from  advantageous  positions  which  he  thought  he 
could  not  hold  consistently  with  honor.  One  such  instance 
is  notable  as  occurring  in  his  younger  days,  when  such 
ambition  as  a  man  has  is  strongest,  and  apt  to  outweigh 
more  delicate  sensibilities.  He  sought  to  resign  the  adju- 
tantcy  of  his  regiment  and  return  to  a  lower  place  in  the 
line,  because  he  suspected  that  the  regimental  commander, 
who  had  selected  him  for  that  position,  had  been  supplanted 
in  the  command  by  means  not  entirely  open  and  fair,  and 
he  only  abandoned  the  design  when  the  new  commandant 
at  headquarters,  apparently  won  by  the  frankness  and 
sensitiveness  of  the  young  ofiicer,  condescended  to  vindicate 
himself  from  suspicions  which,  however  plausible,  were 
unfounded.  This  incident,  too,  furnished  an  early  but  not 
the  only  proof  that  its  subject  neither  worshipped  the  rising 


70  JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

sun,  nor  turned  his  back  upon  the  sun  that  was  declining. 
The  other  quality  referred  to  as  having  an  appreciable 
influence  in  keeping  him  back  from  opportunities  of  public 
distinction  was  a  mental  timidity  that  made  him  shrink 
from  venturing  what  he  had  for  the  prospect  of  gaining 
by  the  venture.  It  is  possible  that  the  crash  of  his  father's 
fortunes,  at  an  age  when  he  was  young  enough  to  receive 
a  lasting  impression  of  its  consequences,  may  have  had 
something  to  do  with  this  bent  of  his  mind  ;  but  whatever 
the  cause,  it  is  certain  that  his  aversion  to  speculative  en- 
terprises and  experiments  generally  was  marked  in  his  own 
conduct  and  his  counsel  to  others.  Had  these  mental 
qualities  of  shyness  and  timidity  been  unbalanced  by  those 
other  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  that  made  him  cheerful 
and  contented  in  toiling  on  zealously  in  whatsoever  situa- 
tion fate  had  placed  him,  he  might  have  chafed  at  the 
limits  set  to  the  exercise  of  his  industry  and  talent,  and 
the  results  derivable  therefrom,  and  so  have  substituted  a 
morose  and  ignoble  existence  for  the  full,  rounded,  and 
edifying  life  that  he  really  lived. 

The  fact  has  escaped  mention  in  a  more  appropriate 
place  that,  in  his  early  years.  General  Hardie  was  destined 
for  the  profession  of  the  law  and  his  youthful  studies  were 
that  way  directed.  All  his  life  he  was  a  lover  and  student 
of  that  lofty  science,  and  his  legal  attainments  were  such 
as  to  command  the  attention  ami  respect  of  men  I'ininent 
in  their  vocation  as  lawyers. 

General  Hardie's  life   was  so  inueli   inlhienced   by  his 


JAMES    ALLEK    HARDIE. 


71 


religious  character  that  any  account  of  him,  however  brief, 
would  be  incomplete  without  some  mention  of  it.  From 
his  boyhood  he  was  pious  and  always  interested  in  the  out- 
ward observances  of  religion.  His  father  was  a  member 
of  the  Episcopal  congregation  of  Grace  Church,  New 
York,  and  the  son  also  joined  the  same  communion.  His 
musical  and  artistic  tastes  were  gratified  by  the  ceremonies 
and  customs  of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  the  same  tastes 
led  him  to  favor  the  ritualistic  movements  then  beginning 
to  be  active.  A  visit  of  the  famous  Dr.  Pusey  to  West 
Point  while  he  was  a  cadet  had  a  powerful  influence  in 
wedding  him  to  the  views  of  that  eminent  divine,  and  as 
with  so  many  of  the  hitter's  followers,  the  route  pursued 
led  him  at  last  into  the  communion  of  the  Catholic  church. 
His  open  adherence  to  that  church  did  not  occur  till  he 
had  thoroughly  satisfied  the  demands  of  his  mind  and  con- 
science as  to  the  wisdom  and  righteousness  of  the  step,  and 
he  entered  it  so  fully  prepared  and  persuaded,  that  the 
mental  peace  and  happiness  that  it  brought  him  were 
never  thereafter  marred  by  a  doubt  or  regret.  Being 
always  religious,  as  well  as  high-minded,  no  radical  change 
in  his  outward  life  was  wrought  by  his  public  profession  of 
Catholicism,  but  his  intellectual  activities  were  quickened 
in  the  investigation  of  religious  truth,  and  he  busied  him- 
self in  religious  enterprises  and  sought  the  companionship 
and  correspondence  of  pious  Catholics,  both  among  the 
clergy  and  laity.  With  many  such  men  he  formed  life- 
long friendships  and  the  records  of  these  intimacies  bear 


72  JAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE. 

convincing  testimony  to  the  sincerity,  purity,  and  fervor  of 
his  and  their  religious  characters.  An  extract  from  a 
letter  sent  him  by  a  former  fellow  cadet  at  West  Point,  in 
1850,  in  answer  to  a  request  for  information  upon  some 
religious  subject,  will  admirably  suggest  the  kind  of  men 
and  the  topics  that  engaged  his  affections  after  his  pro- 
fession of  the  Catholic  faith.  After  referring  him  to  some 
other  co-religionist,  the  letter  continues  : 

"  If  my  present  condition  justified  my  dictating  any  instruc- 
tions, I  would  gladly  do  it,  but  the  state  of  my  lungs  will  not 
permit  it.  I  am  lingering  out  my  existence  here  and  expect  only 
to  live  a  few  days  longer.  You  must  pray  for  me,  especially  after 
I  am  dead,  and  when  I  get  to  heaven  I  will  take  care  not  to  forget 
you." 

Some  readers  of  this  little  volume  may  gain  a  new  idea 
of  the  life  and  character  of  the  Catholic  clergy,  from  a 
perusal  of  the  following  charming  letter  from  one  of  that 

profession  : 

"  East  Boston,  December  20,  1856, 

"  My  Dear  Captain  H. 

"  Delighted  I  am  to  hear  of  your  address,  and  more,  of  the 
excellent  health  enjoyed  by  yourself  and  amiable  partner  ;  and 
as  to  the  little  ones,— I  know  not  how  many,— may  every 
blessing,  spiritual  and  temporal,  be  with  you.  Had  I  written  as 
often  as  prayed  that  success  might  attend  your  every  movement, 
you  would  have  a  folio  ere  tliis.  It  is  only  now  I  learned  of 
your  location,  though  sometime  since  I  heard  with  joy  of  your 
promotion. 

"  You  perceive  that  I,  too,  write  from  another  quarter,  but 
still  working  on  in  the  same  sphere.  Born  with  a  little  bit  of  a 
mallet,  my  forte  seems  to  be  pioneering  ;  still  thumping  among 
stone  and  mortar.  All  having  been  completed  at  Newport, 
quite    unexpectedly   to  myself,  I   was  requested  by   authority  to 


JAMES    ALLEN    HARDlE.  73 

remove  to  this  city  to  undertake  iiiiother  uhurcli.  Upon  this,  I 
have  amused  myself  for  the  past  sixteen  months  and  have  taken 
possession.  The  congregation  being  about  five  thousand,  the 
church  just  completed,  is  of  course  larger  than  that  of  New- 
port, and  though  Gothic,  and  of  solid  material — granite — it  is  of 
early  pointed  style,  and  consequently  admits  of  less  ornament ; 
though  it  is  pronounced  the  handsomest  building  in  the  city. 
That  may  be  for  others  to  look  upon,  but  in  reality,  "  our  Lady 
of  the  Isle,"  is  the  gem.  Too  happy  and  comfortable  was  I,  a 
wretched  sinner,  to  be  permitted  to  remain  at  that  quiet,  lovely, 
retired  island  home. 

"If,  in  the  estimation  of  others,  I  was  needed  here,  my  good 
fortune  in  the  exchange  added  fifty-odd  thousand  dollars  to  my 
credit  as  financier,  as  I  found  that  debt  was  to  be  assumed  soon 
after  my  exchange.  So  thus  am  I  doomed  to  pick  up  the  load  of 
others  and  move  onwards  ;  and  when,  with  a  little  disappoint- 
ment I  told  the  Bishop  of  my  surprise,  he  looked  very  compla- 
cently, and  kindly  said  :  Oh  !   You'll  put  it  through  ! 

"  Well  !  well !  and  this  is  all  ego,  ego,  as  usual.  But  what  of 
your  family  and  numbers?  How  like  you  California?  Would 
that  I  was  permitted  to  look  upon  you  all  once  more  !  And  who 
knows  what  changes  may  be  yet  in  futuro  ? 

"Of  our  mutual  friend  Kos6  I  have  not  heard  for  a  long,  long 
while,  nor  do  I  know  of  his  whereabouts,  but  wherever  he  may 
be,  he  is  indomitable  in  his  perseverance  of  well  doing — I  know 
he  must  be. 

"  Do  at  some  leisure  moment  let  us  hear  from  you  ;  while,  with 
dearest  remembrances,  I  remain,  sincerely, 


The  journals  left  by  General  Hardie  contain  fragments 
of  a  study  on  the  religious  basis  of  the  civil  power  as  the 
only  valid  claim  to  obedience,  but  his  democratic  principles 
were  strong  enough  to  qualify  the  position  taken  by  re- 
quiring likewise  the  consent  of  the  governed.  He  pub- 
lished also,  while  in  California,  an  article  in  the 
12 


74  JAMES  ALLEN  HARDIE. 

"  Freeman's  Journal "  of  New  York,  on  the  oppressive 
bearing  upon  the  consciences  of  tlie  Catholic  soldiers,  who 
constituted  so  large  a  part  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
army,  of  the  regulations  concerning  attendance  upon 
divine  worship,  and  the  custom  of  appointing  permanent 
post  chaplains  and  choosing  them  exclusively  from 
Protestant  denominations.  No  Catholic  could  write  on 
such  a  subject  with  a  freer  conscience  than  himself,  for 
bigotry  never  found  a  lodgment  in  his  constitution.  He 
gave  to  merit  and  sincerity  all  that  they  were  worth,  and 
was  notably  free  from  prejudices  of  race  or  religion.  His 
friendships  were  among  men  of  all  beliefs  and  opinions 
and  he  never  in  the  slightest  degi'ee  infringed  upon  that 
freedom  of  conscience  and  religious  choice  that  he  regarded 
as  among  the  greatest  of  temporal  blessings.  Some 
friends,  not  Catholics,  and  among  them  the  writer  of  this 
Memoir,  have  at  times  wondered  how  a  man  of  such 
liberality,  independence,  and  learning  managed  to  submit 
himself  to  what  they  had  been  taught  to  regard  as  the 
dogmatic  tyranny  of  an  oligarchy  of  priests,  and  what  his 
account  of  his  experiences  and  feelings  about  it  would  be 
if  he  ever  revealed  them.  Happily  for  his  sincerity  and 
intellectual  fame  he  did  commit  them  briefly  to  paper  a 
few  months  before  his  death  in  a  letter  to  a  valued  friend 
in  wliom  he  seemed  to  have  discovered  the  existence  of  the 
curiosity  above  mentioned.  In  the  belief  that  the  publica- 
tion of  this  letter  to  his  friends  who  are  to  he  the  readers 
of  this  Memoir  is  the  readiest  and  most  satisfactory  way 


JAMES    ALLEN    HARBIE.  75 

of  doing  him  justice  iu  respect  to  the  most  important  and 
delicate  act  of  judgment  to  be  exei'cised  in  respect  to  his 
character,  all  the  material  and  relevant  parts  of  the  letter 
are  here  given. 

In  seeming  reply  to  a  criticism  upon  the  dogma  of  the 
papal  infallibility,  and  the  compulsory  force  of  dogmas 
generally,  he  says  : 

"  Now,  as  to  tho  power  of  the  church,  there  is  no  more  tyranny 
in  the  being  obliged  to  submit  to  the  truth  as  one  sees  it  in 
religion,  than  there  is  in  your  being  obliged  to  recognize  mathe- 
matical  truth  in  the  multiplication  table.  Practical  experience 
exhibits  the  entire  freedom  otherwise  of  the  Catholic  organization, 
so  far  as  the  laity  is  concerned.  No  priest  or  bishop  ever  spoke 
politics  to  me  in  all  my  life,  unless  we  might  meet  socially  and 
an  opinion  might  be  expressed.  The  papal  infallibility  is  only 
the  insisting  of  a  decision  of  the  head  of  the  supreme  bench  of 
the  church  being  binding,  when  the  case  is  formally  brought  up. 
In  administration,  the  Pope  may  make  mistakes,  and  he  does  so, 
I  know,  in  some  instances,  in  ecclesiastical  appointments.  It  is 
only  in  faith  and  morals,  where  there  must  be  doubts  and  where 
there  must  be  the  right  to  settle  them  in  the  organization,  that 
the  authority  to  settle  questions  is  confined  to  the  head  of  the 
church.  There  is  a  charming  freedom  in  worship  ;  nobody  pays 
attention  to  anybody  else.  There  are  no  social  tyrannies  in  the 
case. 

"That  human  motives  control  human  actions  in  the  use  or 
abuse  ofauthority  in  the  case  of  the  clergy  is  certainly  true.  But 
the  history  of  all  denominations  shows  that  grace  does'nt  always 
prevail  over  the  carnalism  of  our  poor  nature,  however  high 
may  be  our  place  in  the  sanctuary.  *  *  *  Indeed,  if  the  beauty 
of  Catholicism  hadn't  been  besmirched  by  the  unworthiness  of  the 
clergy  and  laity  often,  and  by  the  intrusion  into  its  administration 
of  secularism — often  a  necessity  of  charity  originally,  and  then 
crystallized  upon  its  organization  as  a  matter  of  course — there 
would  have  been  no  '  raison  d'etre  '  for  any  separation.     It  is  for 


76  JAMES    ALLEN    HARDIE. 

every  Catholic  to  say  '  niea  culpa !  mea  culpa !  niea  maxuna 
culpa !  ^  If  from  the  time  of  the  first  Bishop  of  Rome  we  had 
done  our  square  work,  we  should  not,  in  our  old  age,  be  naked 
before  our  enemies.  The  fact  is,  thore  is  too  much  of  small  truth 
told  against  us,  and  we  must  reap  the  harvest. 

"  But,  after  all,  we  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  the  Saviour's  most 
condescendingly  generous  mission,  and  we  believe  that  his  blood, 
so  copiously  and  lovingly  poured  out  for  our  miserable  humanity's 
redemption,  was  not  poured  out  in  vain.  We  believe  that  He  has 
not  been  a  failure,  and  most  of  us  mean  to  do  what  He  has 
directed,  oven  in  ever  so  poor  a  way,  sometimes  very  badly, 
sometimes  not  at  all,  but  always  getting  up  when  we  fall  and 
starting  anew.  And  so  we  believe  God  will  save  us,  if  we  mean 
salvation." 

His  rejection  of  the  scientific  creeds  of  the  present  day 
has  been  mentioned  some  pages  back,  and  in  the  letter 
now  before  us  he  alludes  to  them  in  the  following 
words  : 

"  Now,  about  belief,  what  I  think  is  simply  this, — the  trouble 
is  not  that  some  believe  too  little,  and  others  believe  what  many 
think  is  too  much,  but  that  most  arc  getting  nut  to  believe  at  all  ; 
God  is  left  out  of  his  own  creation.  There  are  no  moral  standards 
better  than  those  of  the  Spartans  set  up  among  the  mo.-t 
honorable  of  the  non-believers  and  the  scientists  now  accepted  as 
teachers.  Think  !  what  will  be  the  condition  of  a  society  which 
knows  not  God  and  His  laws,  in  Imlf  a  century  ?  Naturally  go 
back  to  the  times  of  old  Pagan  Rome  with  its  nameless  infamies 
in  personal  life  and  the  social  organization.'' 

It  is  probable  that  among  the  influences  that  contributed 
to  the  bringing  in  of  General  Ilardie  to  the  Catholic  fold 
was  his  personal  experience  and  observation  of  the  piety, 
zeal,  and  devotion  of  the  missionary  priests  who  had  been 
for  so  many  decades  laborers  and  even  martyrs  among  the 


JAMES   ALLEN   HARDIE.  77 

Indian  tribes  of  the  Northwest,  and  certainly  if  anything 
can  inspire  trust  in  the  Christian  faith  as  worked  out  in 
the  Catholic  organization  it  is  a  view  of  the  labors  and 
achievements  of  the  Jesuit  missions  among  the  North 
American  Indians.  One  of  his  long  time  and  close  friends 
among  these  missionaries  was  the  well  known  and  vener- 
ated Father  De  Smet,  through  whose  personal  solicitation 
of  the  Pope  in  1865  he  received  some  of  those  marks  of 
religious  favor  that  are  so  gratifying  to  pious  and  devout 
Catholics  whose  virtues  are  thus  recognized. 

The  moral  constitution  of  General  Hardie  would  have 
made  him  generous  and  charitable,  whatever  his  religious 
creed,  but  what,  in  the  absence  of  religious  feelings,  might 
have  been  a  mere  intellectual  gratification  became,  as  well, 
a  pious  duty.  He  never  turned  away  a  street  beggar 
empty-handed,  lest,  as  he  explained  in  self  defense,  he 
might  in  his  ignorance  fail  in  giving  to  the  worthy.  As  a 
friend  who  knew  him  thoroughly  fervidly  expresses  it,  "  he 
wanted  always  to  do  and  to  be  right."  At  one  time  when 
the  public  necessity  had  led  to  the  most  stringent  orders 
from  the  Secretary  of  War  against  the  further  discharge 
of  soldiers  on  any  grounds  other  than  expiration  of  service 
or  disability,  he  took  such  pity  upon  a  poor  woman  who 
had  found  her  way  to  the  War  Department  upon  what 
seemed  to  be  a  hopeless  errand,  that,  not  venturing  to 
incur  the  risk  of  a  personal  rebuff,  he  sent  the  following 
message  to  the  Secretary's  private  room,  written  on  an 
envelope : 


78  JAMES   ALLEN    HARDIE. 

"  There  is  a  woman,  sick  and  poor,  in  the  room  here,  who  has 
four  sons  in  the  military  and  naval  service.  She  begs,  for  the 
sake  of  charity,  to  let  the  youngest  go.  Shall  I  do  it  ?  It  seems 
so  hard  a  case  that  I  cannot  resist  this  appeal." 

The  answer  came  out  at  once  to  discharge  the  boy  and 
the  poor  woman  was  sent  off  rejoicing. 

Here,  in  the  contemplation  of  that  noblest  of  the 
Christian  virtues,  Charity,  fittingly  may  end  this  brief  but 
earnest  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  man  whom  it  would 
not  have  been  unseemly  to  call  great,  had  not  the  ambition 
and  greed  of  mankind  resulted  in  restricting  the  ordinary 
use  of  that  term  to  its  lower  and  narrower  meanings.  For 
what  has  written  the  fervent  pen  of  Channing,  himself 
incontestably  great  in  every  meaning  of  the  word  ? 

"  There  are  diflerent  orders  of  greatness.  Among  these,  the 
lirst  rank  is  unquestionably  due  to  moral  greatness,  or  magna- 
nimity, that  sublime  energy  by  which  the  soul,  smitten  with  the 
love  of  virtue,  binds  itself  indissolubly,  for  life  and  death,  to  truth 
and  duty  ;  espouses  as  its  own  the  interests  of  human  nature  ; 
scorns  all  meanness  and  defies  all  peril ;  hears  in  its  own  conscience 
a  voice  louder  than  threatenings  and  thunders;  withstands  all  the 
powers  of  the  universe  which  would  sever  it  from  the  cause  oF 
freedom  and  religion  ;  reposes  an  unfaltering  trust  in  God  in  tlie 
darkest  hour,  and  is  ever  ready  to  be  offered  upon  the  altar  of  its 
country  or  of  mankind  " 

For  this  sublime  study  of  true  greatness,  the  man  whose 
name  adorns  these  pages  might  have  stood  as  the  living 
and  complete  model.  And — to  use  his  own  words — "that 
such  a  useful  and  honorable  man  slmuld  be  called  early 
from  his  earthly  sjihrrc"  would  be  a  prdioundir  source  of 


JAMES    ALLEN    HAKBIE.  79 

grief  thau  those  who  knew  aud  loved  him  now  feel  it, 
were  it  not  for  the  consoling  reflection  that  only  the  inferior 
and  the  jDerishable  parts  of  him  are  lost  to  earth,  while 
the  better  and  the  lasting  parts  remain  to  them  and  to 
mankind.  All  that  he  ever  bestowed  upon  his  fellow-men  of 
help,  encouragement,  sympathy,  aud  example  is  as  potent 
as  when  he  dwelt  among  them,  and  the  countless  influences 
that  went  out  from  him  while  he  lived  will  not  perish  now 
that  he  is  dead.  These  comforting  thoughts,  struggling 
for  means  of  expression,  will  find  none  more  eloquent  or 
fitting  than  in  these  words  of  another  great  divine,  who, 
for  the  solace  and  inspiration  of  the  living,  made  himself 
the  masterly  interpreter  of  the  Voices  of  the  Dead : 

"  The  friend  with  whom  we  took  sweet  counsel  is  removed 
visibly  from  the  outward  eye  ;  but  the  lessons  that  he  taught,  the 
grand  sentiments  that  he  uttered,  the  holy  deeds  of  generosity  by 
which  he  was  characterized,  the  moral  lineaments  and  likeness  of 
the  man,  still  survive,  and  appear  in  the  silence  of  eventide,  and 
on  the  tablets  of  memory,  and  in  the  light  of  morn  and  noon  and 
dewy  eve;  and  being  dead,  he  yet  speaks  eloquently  and  in  the 
midst  of  us." 

..  THE  END. 


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